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PLAYER INFO
Name: eve
Preferred Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
elate, pm
Age: 30+
Invite Link: HERE
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Sumeragi Subaru
Canon: X/1999
Age: 25
If Under 16, why is this character a good thematic fit for Somnia?: n/a
Canon Point: Vol 17, Suite, The End I. Right as he's about to accept Seishirou's eye and become the Sakurazukamori.
Wiki Link(s): HERE.
SOMNIA-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS (CW: HEAVY SUICIDE IDEATION THROUGHOUT.)
1. Dreams are how Sleep chooses you. What might draw your character into Somniaβ a wound, a wish, a weakness? Would they follow the dream, or run from it?
To wish and to dream are the major architectures of X/1999. Its story is told entirely in accordance with what the Dreamseers of the world predict for its future. What that future holds is determined entirely by a wish. Within that framework, Sumeragi Subaru, onmyouji and 13th head of his clan, has lost everything. Subaru is currently at a crossroads. In his youth, he loved two people more than anything: his twin star, sister Sumeragi Hokuto, and his antithesis, clan rival Sakurazuka Seishirou. Colloquially — the Sakurazukamori, spiritual assassin and enemy of the Sumeragi. Seishirou, having orchestrated their fated bond from the moment they met by magically branding him with his clan's sigil, still denied Subaru's love in a violent first act of betrayal. As a second act, he killed Hokuto and vanished from Subaru's life. Subaru was both unable to heal from the heartbreak of losing her and unable to understand Seishirou's subsequential abandonment of him as his rightful prey, believing himself only worthy of his scorn. As a result, devotion in decay, he wove his life around a new wish: to command the Sakurazukamori's attention and die by Seishirou's hand.
This wish was also denied. With the last of her power, Hokuto cast a single spell on Seishirou: if he were to try and kill Subaru in the same way he killed her, the strike would reverse and kill him in Subaru's stead. On the cusp of the apocalypse, Seishirou invokes the final act, the spell, choosing to die but forcing Subaru to kill him. In his last moments, Seishirou confesses that he did love Subaru, but there is no undoing what has been done. Subaru is left with nothing in the world he wishes to protect.
And so, at his current canon point, Subaru has lost those he loved most and failed to make his wish a reality. All he has left is the dreams in which he can see them but cannot change the outcome, the knowledge that his life's wish may have been all wrong. With his own desires shattered, he's offered the opportunity to fulfill Seishirou's final wish. He's ready to accept it despite never confronting the true nature of his own wants, which is not to die remembered, but to be loved.
Subaru, at his core, cannot let go of wishing.
Because there is no way back, only forward, Subaru would follow this dream. Spiritually keen, he understands the brutal dichotomy of a second chance, of chasing answers to questions he thought he'd never get to ask.
2. Somnia is a slow unravelingβof worlds, and of selves. How does your character respond to fear, transformation, and losing control? Do they fight, adapt, collapse?
Identity is a core tenet of Subaru's journey in canon, and also one of the driving factors of his tragedy. From birth, he was reared into a profession that seemed at odds with his gentle nature. His aptitude for divination, exorcism, and combat were extraordinary. But it was his ability and willingness to empathize so wholly with the people, ghosts, spirits, and monsters around him that made his talents flourish. Subaru often looked the things that terrified people the most in the eye, corporeal and ephemeral both, and smiled. However, because of his power, he never felt special. Only not normal, only mercilessly othered. His abundance of empathy for others blinded him to his own heart, repressing his own emotions and desires. Only Seishirou's violent betrayal of his first love got through to disastrous results. Subaru's first experience with loving someone caused his complete collapse, and that collapse cost him dearly — it cost him Hokuto.
Because of this, Subaru went from a fairly emotional, cooperative, and hardworking teen into a reticent and isolated adult. Subaru abandoned all other desires in life in pursuit of strength to stand equal to Sakurazuka Seishirou. This was not to exact revenge on him for the death of his sister or for betraying him, but to satisfy the one wish that lies at the axis of who Subaru was and who he grew into as a result: to be granted the Sakurazukamori's death. His experience was transformative in its acceptance. He sought to understand and control what he loved by crawling inside of it, becoming it. He started smoking, like Seishirou. He was blinded in his right eye, like Seishirou. Subaru's heart seeks control through strict, certain absolution.
With this single driving force, Subaru became a knowledgeable and competent onmyouji who did perform his duties as clan head, if not somewhat perfunctorily β iron wrought expertly over his his heartbreaks and hauntings. Subaru did not ever let himself heal from his formative hurts and so isolated himself with his wish to die at the hands of the person who hurt him. Collapse is no longer an option for him —
(But it would do him better emotionally if he learned the art of surrender.)
3. Connection is the only constant. What kind of bonds does your character formβ fast and burning, slow and wary, deep and desperate? How might that shape their time in this world?
Connection comes as naturally as breathing to Subaru, even if he'd be the first to say differently. Despite his chilly and standoffish nature as an adult (something you can see him actively work to maintain), Subaru reaches out when someone is in need of him. He comes to the rescue when no one else can. He does still, at his core, love. Because he cannot make himself unlove, he suffers a deep loneliness that he's never even attempted to rectify or divert elsewhere. He's cast his soft heart in the iron of grief, but his natural inclination towards sentimentality doesn't always obey the cage he's made for it. He is wary as a baseline, knowing his predilections may understandably drive people away. However, the bonds he forms with the people who get through to him are deep and torrential, loyal beyond death and beyond even the soul.
Because Subaru spent the entirety of his adult life trying to die, his interpersonal relationship skills are atrophied. But with his natural inclination towards connection now being a two-way street through the Murmur, he stands a better chance of having his empathy reciprocated and understood rather than being a source of alienation.
4. What are two major forces in your characterβs personality that are often in conflict? (Ex: logic vs emotion, power vs guilt, obedience vs rage, etc.)
Selfishness and sacrifice.
Subaru's entire character arc is a cautionary tale on why having too much empathy is a curse — though it made him proficient in soothing the spiritual aggravations of others, it blinded him to his own desires. It concealed his identity in that of his work, his ancestral calling. Because of his sacred birthright marking his power as a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, Subaru was expected to sacrifice his life, his dreams, to stand as the most powerful onmyouji in Japan. That he didn't want this job was unthinkable and summarily denied by his clan; he was dressed up and sent out into the world as early as nine to fulfill his duties. Gentler than most in his youth, Subaru would gladly bear the brunt of humanity's rage, sorrow, and violence and still think he had no right to ask for anything in return. His deep distaste for injustice and seeing harm come to others put his life in danger countless times; he would have rather pulled his punches and diminish his efficacy to soothe someone's hurt than remain safe.
Falling in love was his first emotion that felt entirely as if it belonged to him. Because of that emotion, that single fault-line in his soul, he was crushed beneath it. Since that moment, he's woven his life in what he considers selfishness: his wish to die will make those who know him sad, but he cannot bring himself to abandon it. Subaru is instead willing to sacrifice his bloodline, his relationships, his life, to see his selfish wish fulfilled.
And when he was denied that, he was ready to give up his identity as Sumeragi Subaru to become the Sakurazukamori, enshrining Seishirou's final wish in his heart and making it his own. And in Somnia, he would be denied even that, so the question remains: what is there to sacrifice? What will his perceived selfishness make him pursue instead?
VESSEL SELECTION
Which Vessel Type are you choosing: Token or Offering? Token
Why does this Vessel type feel appropriate for your character? Subaru is a mage archetype and a glass cannon. Because his canon power is the rare culmination of hundreds of years of ancestry, it's an inexorable facet of who he is as a person despite his wish to rebuke its prestige and meaning. Subaru never reconciled how he felt about his powers or his standing in canon, so being slotted into a similar position where he must confront who he actually is would be the most interesting for his character.
Choose one OR list three subclass options within your chosen Vessel type that you think would suit them: Runecaster, pulling from his favored combat medium: ink and paper talismans/ofuda.
Samples: TDM TOPLEVEL.
Name: eve
Preferred Contact:
Age: 30+
Invite Link: HERE
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Sumeragi Subaru
Canon: X/1999
Age: 25
If Under 16, why is this character a good thematic fit for Somnia?: n/a
Canon Point: Vol 17, Suite, The End I. Right as he's about to accept Seishirou's eye and become the Sakurazukamori.
Wiki Link(s): HERE.
SOMNIA-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS (CW: HEAVY SUICIDE IDEATION THROUGHOUT.)
1. Dreams are how Sleep chooses you. What might draw your character into Somniaβ a wound, a wish, a weakness? Would they follow the dream, or run from it?
To wish and to dream are the major architectures of X/1999. Its story is told entirely in accordance with what the Dreamseers of the world predict for its future. What that future holds is determined entirely by a wish. Within that framework, Sumeragi Subaru, onmyouji and 13th head of his clan, has lost everything. Subaru is currently at a crossroads. In his youth, he loved two people more than anything: his twin star, sister Sumeragi Hokuto, and his antithesis, clan rival Sakurazuka Seishirou. Colloquially — the Sakurazukamori, spiritual assassin and enemy of the Sumeragi. Seishirou, having orchestrated their fated bond from the moment they met by magically branding him with his clan's sigil, still denied Subaru's love in a violent first act of betrayal. As a second act, he killed Hokuto and vanished from Subaru's life. Subaru was both unable to heal from the heartbreak of losing her and unable to understand Seishirou's subsequential abandonment of him as his rightful prey, believing himself only worthy of his scorn. As a result, devotion in decay, he wove his life around a new wish: to command the Sakurazukamori's attention and die by Seishirou's hand.
This wish was also denied. With the last of her power, Hokuto cast a single spell on Seishirou: if he were to try and kill Subaru in the same way he killed her, the strike would reverse and kill him in Subaru's stead. On the cusp of the apocalypse, Seishirou invokes the final act, the spell, choosing to die but forcing Subaru to kill him. In his last moments, Seishirou confesses that he did love Subaru, but there is no undoing what has been done. Subaru is left with nothing in the world he wishes to protect.
And so, at his current canon point, Subaru has lost those he loved most and failed to make his wish a reality. All he has left is the dreams in which he can see them but cannot change the outcome, the knowledge that his life's wish may have been all wrong. With his own desires shattered, he's offered the opportunity to fulfill Seishirou's final wish. He's ready to accept it despite never confronting the true nature of his own wants, which is not to die remembered, but to be loved.
Subaru, at his core, cannot let go of wishing.
Because there is no way back, only forward, Subaru would follow this dream. Spiritually keen, he understands the brutal dichotomy of a second chance, of chasing answers to questions he thought he'd never get to ask.
2. Somnia is a slow unravelingβof worlds, and of selves. How does your character respond to fear, transformation, and losing control? Do they fight, adapt, collapse?
Identity is a core tenet of Subaru's journey in canon, and also one of the driving factors of his tragedy. From birth, he was reared into a profession that seemed at odds with his gentle nature. His aptitude for divination, exorcism, and combat were extraordinary. But it was his ability and willingness to empathize so wholly with the people, ghosts, spirits, and monsters around him that made his talents flourish. Subaru often looked the things that terrified people the most in the eye, corporeal and ephemeral both, and smiled. However, because of his power, he never felt special. Only not normal, only mercilessly othered. His abundance of empathy for others blinded him to his own heart, repressing his own emotions and desires. Only Seishirou's violent betrayal of his first love got through to disastrous results. Subaru's first experience with loving someone caused his complete collapse, and that collapse cost him dearly — it cost him Hokuto.
Because of this, Subaru went from a fairly emotional, cooperative, and hardworking teen into a reticent and isolated adult. Subaru abandoned all other desires in life in pursuit of strength to stand equal to Sakurazuka Seishirou. This was not to exact revenge on him for the death of his sister or for betraying him, but to satisfy the one wish that lies at the axis of who Subaru was and who he grew into as a result: to be granted the Sakurazukamori's death. His experience was transformative in its acceptance. He sought to understand and control what he loved by crawling inside of it, becoming it. He started smoking, like Seishirou. He was blinded in his right eye, like Seishirou. Subaru's heart seeks control through strict, certain absolution.
With this single driving force, Subaru became a knowledgeable and competent onmyouji who did perform his duties as clan head, if not somewhat perfunctorily β iron wrought expertly over his his heartbreaks and hauntings. Subaru did not ever let himself heal from his formative hurts and so isolated himself with his wish to die at the hands of the person who hurt him. Collapse is no longer an option for him —
(But it would do him better emotionally if he learned the art of surrender.)
3. Connection is the only constant. What kind of bonds does your character formβ fast and burning, slow and wary, deep and desperate? How might that shape their time in this world?
Connection comes as naturally as breathing to Subaru, even if he'd be the first to say differently. Despite his chilly and standoffish nature as an adult (something you can see him actively work to maintain), Subaru reaches out when someone is in need of him. He comes to the rescue when no one else can. He does still, at his core, love. Because he cannot make himself unlove, he suffers a deep loneliness that he's never even attempted to rectify or divert elsewhere. He's cast his soft heart in the iron of grief, but his natural inclination towards sentimentality doesn't always obey the cage he's made for it. He is wary as a baseline, knowing his predilections may understandably drive people away. However, the bonds he forms with the people who get through to him are deep and torrential, loyal beyond death and beyond even the soul.
Because Subaru spent the entirety of his adult life trying to die, his interpersonal relationship skills are atrophied. But with his natural inclination towards connection now being a two-way street through the Murmur, he stands a better chance of having his empathy reciprocated and understood rather than being a source of alienation.
4. What are two major forces in your characterβs personality that are often in conflict? (Ex: logic vs emotion, power vs guilt, obedience vs rage, etc.)
Selfishness and sacrifice.
Subaru's entire character arc is a cautionary tale on why having too much empathy is a curse — though it made him proficient in soothing the spiritual aggravations of others, it blinded him to his own desires. It concealed his identity in that of his work, his ancestral calling. Because of his sacred birthright marking his power as a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, Subaru was expected to sacrifice his life, his dreams, to stand as the most powerful onmyouji in Japan. That he didn't want this job was unthinkable and summarily denied by his clan; he was dressed up and sent out into the world as early as nine to fulfill his duties. Gentler than most in his youth, Subaru would gladly bear the brunt of humanity's rage, sorrow, and violence and still think he had no right to ask for anything in return. His deep distaste for injustice and seeing harm come to others put his life in danger countless times; he would have rather pulled his punches and diminish his efficacy to soothe someone's hurt than remain safe.
Falling in love was his first emotion that felt entirely as if it belonged to him. Because of that emotion, that single fault-line in his soul, he was crushed beneath it. Since that moment, he's woven his life in what he considers selfishness: his wish to die will make those who know him sad, but he cannot bring himself to abandon it. Subaru is instead willing to sacrifice his bloodline, his relationships, his life, to see his selfish wish fulfilled.
And when he was denied that, he was ready to give up his identity as Sumeragi Subaru to become the Sakurazukamori, enshrining Seishirou's final wish in his heart and making it his own. And in Somnia, he would be denied even that, so the question remains: what is there to sacrifice? What will his perceived selfishness make him pursue instead?
VESSEL SELECTION
Which Vessel Type are you choosing: Token or Offering? Token
Why does this Vessel type feel appropriate for your character? Subaru is a mage archetype and a glass cannon. Because his canon power is the rare culmination of hundreds of years of ancestry, it's an inexorable facet of who he is as a person despite his wish to rebuke its prestige and meaning. Subaru never reconciled how he felt about his powers or his standing in canon, so being slotted into a similar position where he must confront who he actually is would be the most interesting for his character.
Choose one OR list three subclass options within your chosen Vessel type that you think would suit them: Runecaster, pulling from his favored combat medium: ink and paper talismans/ofuda.
Samples: TDM TOPLEVEL.