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abraxas app - revised 11/16/22
OOC INFORMATION
Player Name: Jay
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
Wuzzafuzzle
Other Characters in Game: N/A
IC INFORMATION
Character Name: Castiel
Canon: Supernatural
Canon Point: s9e22 - returning to the game after dropping in March 2022. I'm assuming Cas would retain his memories from his previous time in game, but please let me know if that's not the case!
Background: Wiki
Suitability:
Castiel's a naturally proactive, curious, and investigative. What he doesn't understand, he feels compelled to observe or experience, or needle someone with questions about it - a good portion of the discourse he has with Dean. Seeing himself as a soldier, or a tool, since his creation, it's within his idea of purpose to protect, solve problems, and mitigate threats. The nature of the Singularity alone, and the conflict around it, already began driving him to understand the relic or intervene in the war during his previous stay in Abraxas. In canon, Castiel's probably the most often utilized plot device (pulled Dean out of Hell, facilitated sabotage of Heaven's apocalypse, shows up just in time to do the heavy lifting). He's the Dude With Answers or the Best Resource, so much that other characters comment on the Winchesters humoring him for his usefulness, or address his failures and inability to handle a situation as making him broken or defective.
He'll most certainly be primarily interested in researching both the Singularity and the Old Gods, believing they're likely tied to the relic's creation or purpose. Unlikely to support either manipulating or destroying the Singularity, and entirely against the war and aggression between the nations, he's likely to be somewhat of an annoyance to the Free Cities, either in frequently speaking out against certain orders, or refusing them entirely. Exploring ruins would fall into investigating the Singularity's or Old Gods' history, and he'll definitely be interested in learning local magic, not only for the sake of understanding the relic, but for his own curiosity and advantage. And, because his canon powers will be waning at this canon point.
Powers:
✦ Seraph: Castiel, as the weird name implies, is an angel - a Seraph. This comes with a slew of dumb powers that're about to be nerfed. Not all of them are world-breaking, but they'd definitely make dangerous events less fun if Mr. Divine Healing Hands can breeze through it. Many of these I won't be using on other PCs without permission, and anything that might largely impact the game or plot will be discussed with mods ahead of time. Due to batshit stuff that can happen in the Horizon, I am making a note of the crazier powers (that are totally nerfed out) he's had at some point in canon, just for the sake of reference.
✦ Borrowed Grace; In the s8 finale, Castiel's grace was stolen by Metatron to use in a spell to seal Heaven and cast out the angels, leaving Castiel human for a period of time. Eventually, he regained his powers by cannibalizing another angel's grace, but it's a limited supply. In game, Castiel's powers won't hold out as long as they have before, and the duration he can use abilities will gradually become shorter and shorter, until he's practically human. Eventually to the point he'll become physically ill (essentially, dying), and other natural attributes like strength, speed, or going without food/sleep will wane as well. I'll be canon updating him to a canon point after he regains his grace later, but until then, using his powers too much/often will come with a steep cost.
PERSONALITY QUESTIONS
Describe an important event in your character's life and how it impacted them.
At the end of season 6/first episodes of season 7, Castiel, desperate for a strategy to win an impossible war, made a bad call. He broke into Purgatory, a realm filled with the souls of monsters and banished creations, and absorbed the souls to gain nigh-God levels of power. However, the power and the monstrous creatures corrupted and changed him. The result was carnage on Earth, betrayal and abuse of his friends (Winchesters + Bobby), and devastation in Heaven. Castiel 'vaporized thousands of [angels]' in a crazed attempt to cull and punish the opposition. Basically, horrific war crimes. Shortly after asking the Winchesters to help him expel the souls, Castiel "died", releasing many of those banished creatures onto Earth (which caused more death and violence). Returning, he made some amends by taking on the mental trauma from torture in Hell he'd forced Sam to relive during his betrayal, and Castiel was left kinda bonkers, contained to an asylum for some months, and terrified of allowing himself to fight in any more conflicts. The Godstiel incident shook him, causing self-loathing so deep he tried to isolate himself inside Purgatory as punishment, tricking Dean into leaving him behind. Cas claims taking Sam's pain helped with the weight of his mistakes, perhaps in allowing himself to break and rebuild, or simply learn the complete consequences of his actions. Incidentally, it allowed him to experience true, intense human pain, and find empathy for it, something angels aren't supposed to be capable of. A season later, Castiel's entirely unwelcome by his family (the host of Heaven), still convinced he deserves to do penance in Purgatory, and struggles with self-loathing, but he's channeling it back into Fighting The Good Fight. Experiencing that level of catastrophic failure for the first time in his eons of life, carrying the immense grief and shame, and taking on the profound pain he'd caused Sam expanded the emotional range of a creature not meant to have it. It's one of the first major steps towards the empathetic, astonishingly human-like angel he'll become in later seasons, but it's also a huge hit to his self-confidence, self-worth, and sense of direction and purpose. Thankfully, he's had a couple seasons at this new canon point to work through it, make new mistakes, and have an enlightening stint as a human to grant valuable perspective.
Does your character have a moral code, or other set of standards they try to live by?
“What is so worth saving, I see nothing but pain here” was Castiel’s initial view of humanity. By season 15, he’s arguably the heart of the show, coming to reflect so much of the humanity he adores. In early seasons, Castiel builds his personal sense of morality and ethics, leaning heavily on what he observes from the Winchesters. The brothers function as great role models for morality most of the time, but they hit bumps in the road with honesty and the occasional Machiavellian conflict, so Cas often still believes 'the ends justify the means'. Even in season 5, Castiel often considered it the mission of angels to protect humanity, which isn't an opinion shared by all of his brethren. His admiration for Dean's selfless commitment to protect humanity (families, people), inspired his rebellion from Heaven. While Cas aims to pursue a problem with logic, many of his most impactful decisions drive from a place of emotion and moral compass, sometimes overwhelming the logical conclusion and compelling him to change course. Castiel's committed to doing The Most Right Thing over self-preservation, and considers it his purpose to be a soldier and protector of human life. Free will is a golden virtue to Castiel, even when if it might make things worse than better, he'll always defend autonomy and free will. He can tend to be quick to judgment for those that commit selfish acts and/or endanger innocents. This moral code is subject to override, however, when a Winchester is in danger - especially Dean. Castiel's done some pretty fucked up things (like make a traumatized, kind of cursed man brain dead) in the name of protecting Dean Winchester. Castiel is not above selfishness in the face of losing people he cares for.
While spending time as a human in early season 9, Cas wanders America homeless, going from shelter to shelter, sleeping in abandoned buses and digging in dumpsters for food. He works a job at a gas station and lives the daily grind, navigating socialization, experiencing complexity in human relationships, emotions that hit him like a rip current, and witnesses how Doing the Right Thing becomes so much more complicated when at the mercy of the world and complicated circumstances. While earlier events set the foundation, this is the real bridge that takes Castiel from angel to something more - something strange and in between human and celestial being. It not only changes the severity and judgment of his initial moral code for those around him, but himself as well. Castiel's far from free of guilt and self-loathing, but living a human life, where mistake and failure are every day occurrences, and you cannot make it through with a perfect score, he gains a new, much needed appreciation for self-forgiveness.
What quality or qualities do they admire most?
It's clear Castiel develops a great admiration for Dean Winchester throughout the series, primarily for his selflessness, compulsion to protect, and immense love for humanity, friends and strangers alike. Cas values courage, sincerity, a strong commitment to integrity even (or especially) if it requires defiance and self-sacrifice. He respects those who choose kindness over logic (like losing a vital battle but preserving a town of innocent people), and he's fascinated by the grand spectrum of human emotion, and strength of soul. He appreciates faith, though it's a complicated notion for him that he's still exploring. While human, he speaks to a woman about faith, and even after eons of life in God's direct domain, Cas gains a new definition of it - less of a commitment to following a dogmatic world order, more a spiritual trust, hope and belief that the world is better than what it seems, that someone is listening, and the presumed truth of circumstances have no impact on that. He values loyalty, rarely lacking in determination or devotion to cause or comrades. And clearly, he has a soft spot for sarcastic, traumatized, emotionally repressed boys who keep trying to die for the world.
Do they have a part of themselves they dislike?
Castiel dislikes the traits in him that led to the Godstiel incident - the naivety in trusting Crowley, the desperation that led to recklessness, and the hubris that convinced him he and he alone could save the world from devastation. His arrogance in believing he knew best, which he used to rationalize the manipulation of his friends. That same hubris is a difficult habit to kick, leading him, again, to damage Heaven by believing Metatron needed his and only his help to heal their home. These profound mistakes instilled a sense of defectiveness, of uselessness in him. For an entity created to be a soldier, to obey and follow orders and work as a cog in a divine machine, it's a massive failing. He's holding on to guilt for the destruction he caused, and shame as an outcast from his family. His lack of place in the world is something he's sorrowful of and uncertain how to fix, but he still firmly believes he did the right thing in rebelling. If being outcast is the cost of it, he accepts that.
With his mind set, Cas is relentlessly committed to a course, sometimes to the point of ignoring better, rational advice, missing the forest for the trees (or vice versa). He’s made catastrophic mistakes and reluctantly returned to face the consequences of each. Learning from his mistakes has been one of the hardest but most valuable experiences for Castiel, an ongoing trend that’s taught him humility.
What is their sign, and why?
The Hanged Man. For as long as the show runs, Cas has issues with finding a place he truly fits and belongs. Outcast from Heaven, and being far too strange and alien for the human world, Cas drifts in between. The Winchesters have called him family, but it's never quite the same as the bond between Sam and Dean, and repeatedly disappointing Dean in the last couple seasons has left a rift between them. Going 50 shades of crazy for half of season 7 didn't help much either. He'll eventually become a leader for other angels that follow his path in commitment to protecting humanity, and he's the first of his kind to experience human emotion and empathy to the extent he does. Both superior angels and God Himself refer to Cas as defiant, defective, 'the one off the line with a crack in his chassis'.
SAMPLES & ARRIVAL
Samples:
A TDM top level + an earlier Abraxas log.
Arrival Scenario: Free Cities
Player Name: Jay
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact:
Other Characters in Game: N/A
IC INFORMATION
Character Name: Castiel
Canon: Supernatural
Canon Point: s9e22 - returning to the game after dropping in March 2022. I'm assuming Cas would retain his memories from his previous time in game, but please let me know if that's not the case!
Background: Wiki
Suitability:
Castiel's a naturally proactive, curious, and investigative. What he doesn't understand, he feels compelled to observe or experience, or needle someone with questions about it - a good portion of the discourse he has with Dean. Seeing himself as a soldier, or a tool, since his creation, it's within his idea of purpose to protect, solve problems, and mitigate threats. The nature of the Singularity alone, and the conflict around it, already began driving him to understand the relic or intervene in the war during his previous stay in Abraxas. In canon, Castiel's probably the most often utilized plot device (pulled Dean out of Hell, facilitated sabotage of Heaven's apocalypse, shows up just in time to do the heavy lifting). He's the Dude With Answers or the Best Resource, so much that other characters comment on the Winchesters humoring him for his usefulness, or address his failures and inability to handle a situation as making him broken or defective.
He'll most certainly be primarily interested in researching both the Singularity and the Old Gods, believing they're likely tied to the relic's creation or purpose. Unlikely to support either manipulating or destroying the Singularity, and entirely against the war and aggression between the nations, he's likely to be somewhat of an annoyance to the Free Cities, either in frequently speaking out against certain orders, or refusing them entirely. Exploring ruins would fall into investigating the Singularity's or Old Gods' history, and he'll definitely be interested in learning local magic, not only for the sake of understanding the relic, but for his own curiosity and advantage. And, because his canon powers will be waning at this canon point.
Powers:
✦ Seraph: Castiel, as the weird name implies, is an angel - a Seraph. This comes with a slew of dumb powers that're about to be nerfed. Not all of them are world-breaking, but they'd definitely make dangerous events less fun if Mr. Divine Healing Hands can breeze through it. Many of these I won't be using on other PCs without permission, and anything that might largely impact the game or plot will be discussed with mods ahead of time. Due to batshit stuff that can happen in the Horizon, I am making a note of the crazier powers (that are totally nerfed out) he's had at some point in canon, just for the sake of reference.
✦ Borrowed Grace; In the s8 finale, Castiel's grace was stolen by Metatron to use in a spell to seal Heaven and cast out the angels, leaving Castiel human for a period of time. Eventually, he regained his powers by cannibalizing another angel's grace, but it's a limited supply. In game, Castiel's powers won't hold out as long as they have before, and the duration he can use abilities will gradually become shorter and shorter, until he's practically human. Eventually to the point he'll become physically ill (essentially, dying), and other natural attributes like strength, speed, or going without food/sleep will wane as well. I'll be canon updating him to a canon point after he regains his grace later, but until then, using his powers too much/often will come with a steep cost.
› Angelic Possession: Cas can move his glowy, ethereal light-wave self from one body to the next, but this requires consent from the vessel/host.✦ Hunter(ish)
› Astral Projection: To nerf this, Cas will only be able to project himself through dreams, not into the physical world.
›Time Travel:Nerfed out completely, he hasn't used it since season 5 anyway.
› Healing: (Nerfed from no-holds-barred healopalooza) Cas will be able to heal mild to moderate injuries, or maybe a simple fatal wound (like pierced vital organs - though it'll be very costly on his grace at this canon point), but can't reattach or regrow limbs. Extensive wounds (like burns all over a body) would take him much longer, or several separate instances of intense healing, to fix. In canon, he could heal terminal disease, blindness, and paralysis, but to keep things simple and fun, I'm nerfing that out as well. He cannot cure magic-based afflictions, just physical ailments.
› Regeneration/Invulnerability: Nerf — His regeneration will be slower. A gunshot wound, which might heal instantaneously in canon, will now take at least 10 - 30 minutes. Any kind of decapitation, headshot, exploding, dismembering, or complete conflagration will kill him. Also, if an Angel Blade from SPN canon happens to show up, taking one directly to the heart kills him. Cas doesn't technically need to eat, sleep or breathe, and he doesn't age. This power will become slower and slower as Cas expends more of his borrowed grace in game, until canon update.
›Smiting/White Holy Light:Completely nerfed out, per notes from last app. Angels are able to produce a burning white, holy light, and when touching a person's body (usually head), can use it to burn them up from the inside out. This is nerfed out completely in Abraxas.
› Sedation: A tap on the forehead knocks a human immediately unconscious. Nerf - lasts 5 minutes max.
› Localization/Prayer: Cas can hear prayers made to him (either his name spoken in the prayer, or an unspoken desire for his aid). It's a one way communication only, but (nerf) he is unable to teleport to the person.
›Teleportation/Flight:Previously, Cas could use his wings to "fly", which is basically just teleportation. He never uses this to go to space (does chill at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, though). But at this canon point, his wings have been burned off, and he cannot teleport. If in game powers are used to reinstate this, he would only be able to teleport himself, and only within the borders of his faction.
› Superhuman strength: He can break metal, lift a 1-ton anvil with ease, rupture a stone wall with a touch, and often overpowers monsters, demons, or angels with their own levels of superhuman strength. Any conflict with another superhumanly strong PC will be discussed with the player.
› Superhuman senses: Superhuman hearing, sight, smell, and taste. Cas is able to see microscopic things with the naked eye, hear whispers in the next room over, knew a corpse had a recent bladder infection by sniffing it (also identified which saint a bone belonged to with a sniff??), and tastes each individual molecule when eating food.
› Telekinesis: Cas will have a very low level version of this, and it'll be pretty costly on his borrowed grace. He can shove the mass of an average human maybe 5 - 10 yards.
› Telepathy/Mental Manipulation: In canon, angels can read a human's mind at will, and go digging around in their memories, share his own memories or memories of an alternate timeline, or dig up repressed/forgotten memories. In Abraxas, it'll be with consent only. He rarely uses this anyway. It does include mind control, like convincing a guard he only sees 1 person in a room that has 5 in it, but I'm just going to nerf that out. Too extra. **BIG GRACE COST
› Intangibility: Cas can phase his hand through a human's chest to literally touch their soul, but that's the only time it's really used. He doesn't ghost through walls or use it like The Vision or anything. Soul channeling is the only scenario I'd use this for. **BIG GRACE COST
› Soul Reading/Channeling: When touching a human soul, Cas can tell if there's some damage or weirdness to it, or channel the energy of it into usable power, like a battery (this is extremely painful for the human, and will be consent-based as a nerf). **BIG GRACE COST
›Invisibility:This isn't used much and it's pretty extra, so I'm nerfing it out for the sake of keeping challenging things fun.
›Biokinesis:In canon, Cas can control biological functions inside humans, like abruptly giving them fatally intense stomach ulcers, or something that involved puking blood, idk, or tapping a chest to carve warding sigils on their ribcage. He can also scan them for internal physical ailments. I'm nerfing all of this out, except the scanning for internal physical ailments, since that could be a cool tool for the medical/healing characters.
› Combat: Hand to hand or with nearly any kind of melee weapon, Cas is set. He's a soldier that's older than human warfare. Guns, however, are pretty new to him, and he frankly just doesn't like them.
› Torture/Interrogation: This was perfected as an angel, but he's gotten a lot of use from it in Hunting as well.
› Spell work: Cas is not a witch, and not a master of magic by far, but he does understand the basics and is able to translate spell books in SPN canon with middling success.
› Weirdly Specific Scientific/Biological Trivia: Not really a Hunter thing, Cas has just been around since the beginning of the Earth, and he's full of weird trivia about nature, human biology and history, advanced mathematic calculus, differential geometry, physics, and the universe/space stuff.
PERSONALITY QUESTIONS
Describe an important event in your character's life and how it impacted them.
At the end of season 6/first episodes of season 7, Castiel, desperate for a strategy to win an impossible war, made a bad call. He broke into Purgatory, a realm filled with the souls of monsters and banished creations, and absorbed the souls to gain nigh-God levels of power. However, the power and the monstrous creatures corrupted and changed him. The result was carnage on Earth, betrayal and abuse of his friends (Winchesters + Bobby), and devastation in Heaven. Castiel 'vaporized thousands of [angels]' in a crazed attempt to cull and punish the opposition. Basically, horrific war crimes. Shortly after asking the Winchesters to help him expel the souls, Castiel "died", releasing many of those banished creatures onto Earth (which caused more death and violence). Returning, he made some amends by taking on the mental trauma from torture in Hell he'd forced Sam to relive during his betrayal, and Castiel was left kinda bonkers, contained to an asylum for some months, and terrified of allowing himself to fight in any more conflicts. The Godstiel incident shook him, causing self-loathing so deep he tried to isolate himself inside Purgatory as punishment, tricking Dean into leaving him behind. Cas claims taking Sam's pain helped with the weight of his mistakes, perhaps in allowing himself to break and rebuild, or simply learn the complete consequences of his actions. Incidentally, it allowed him to experience true, intense human pain, and find empathy for it, something angels aren't supposed to be capable of. A season later, Castiel's entirely unwelcome by his family (the host of Heaven), still convinced he deserves to do penance in Purgatory, and struggles with self-loathing, but he's channeling it back into Fighting The Good Fight. Experiencing that level of catastrophic failure for the first time in his eons of life, carrying the immense grief and shame, and taking on the profound pain he'd caused Sam expanded the emotional range of a creature not meant to have it. It's one of the first major steps towards the empathetic, astonishingly human-like angel he'll become in later seasons, but it's also a huge hit to his self-confidence, self-worth, and sense of direction and purpose. Thankfully, he's had a couple seasons at this new canon point to work through it, make new mistakes, and have an enlightening stint as a human to grant valuable perspective.
Does your character have a moral code, or other set of standards they try to live by?
“What is so worth saving, I see nothing but pain here” was Castiel’s initial view of humanity. By season 15, he’s arguably the heart of the show, coming to reflect so much of the humanity he adores. In early seasons, Castiel builds his personal sense of morality and ethics, leaning heavily on what he observes from the Winchesters. The brothers function as great role models for morality most of the time, but they hit bumps in the road with honesty and the occasional Machiavellian conflict, so Cas often still believes 'the ends justify the means'. Even in season 5, Castiel often considered it the mission of angels to protect humanity, which isn't an opinion shared by all of his brethren. His admiration for Dean's selfless commitment to protect humanity (families, people), inspired his rebellion from Heaven. While Cas aims to pursue a problem with logic, many of his most impactful decisions drive from a place of emotion and moral compass, sometimes overwhelming the logical conclusion and compelling him to change course. Castiel's committed to doing The Most Right Thing over self-preservation, and considers it his purpose to be a soldier and protector of human life. Free will is a golden virtue to Castiel, even when if it might make things worse than better, he'll always defend autonomy and free will. He can tend to be quick to judgment for those that commit selfish acts and/or endanger innocents. This moral code is subject to override, however, when a Winchester is in danger - especially Dean. Castiel's done some pretty fucked up things (like make a traumatized, kind of cursed man brain dead) in the name of protecting Dean Winchester. Castiel is not above selfishness in the face of losing people he cares for.
While spending time as a human in early season 9, Cas wanders America homeless, going from shelter to shelter, sleeping in abandoned buses and digging in dumpsters for food. He works a job at a gas station and lives the daily grind, navigating socialization, experiencing complexity in human relationships, emotions that hit him like a rip current, and witnesses how Doing the Right Thing becomes so much more complicated when at the mercy of the world and complicated circumstances. While earlier events set the foundation, this is the real bridge that takes Castiel from angel to something more - something strange and in between human and celestial being. It not only changes the severity and judgment of his initial moral code for those around him, but himself as well. Castiel's far from free of guilt and self-loathing, but living a human life, where mistake and failure are every day occurrences, and you cannot make it through with a perfect score, he gains a new, much needed appreciation for self-forgiveness.
What quality or qualities do they admire most?
It's clear Castiel develops a great admiration for Dean Winchester throughout the series, primarily for his selflessness, compulsion to protect, and immense love for humanity, friends and strangers alike. Cas values courage, sincerity, a strong commitment to integrity even (or especially) if it requires defiance and self-sacrifice. He respects those who choose kindness over logic (like losing a vital battle but preserving a town of innocent people), and he's fascinated by the grand spectrum of human emotion, and strength of soul. He appreciates faith, though it's a complicated notion for him that he's still exploring. While human, he speaks to a woman about faith, and even after eons of life in God's direct domain, Cas gains a new definition of it - less of a commitment to following a dogmatic world order, more a spiritual trust, hope and belief that the world is better than what it seems, that someone is listening, and the presumed truth of circumstances have no impact on that. He values loyalty, rarely lacking in determination or devotion to cause or comrades. And clearly, he has a soft spot for sarcastic, traumatized, emotionally repressed boys who keep trying to die for the world.
Do they have a part of themselves they dislike?
Castiel dislikes the traits in him that led to the Godstiel incident - the naivety in trusting Crowley, the desperation that led to recklessness, and the hubris that convinced him he and he alone could save the world from devastation. His arrogance in believing he knew best, which he used to rationalize the manipulation of his friends. That same hubris is a difficult habit to kick, leading him, again, to damage Heaven by believing Metatron needed his and only his help to heal their home. These profound mistakes instilled a sense of defectiveness, of uselessness in him. For an entity created to be a soldier, to obey and follow orders and work as a cog in a divine machine, it's a massive failing. He's holding on to guilt for the destruction he caused, and shame as an outcast from his family. His lack of place in the world is something he's sorrowful of and uncertain how to fix, but he still firmly believes he did the right thing in rebelling. If being outcast is the cost of it, he accepts that.
With his mind set, Cas is relentlessly committed to a course, sometimes to the point of ignoring better, rational advice, missing the forest for the trees (or vice versa). He’s made catastrophic mistakes and reluctantly returned to face the consequences of each. Learning from his mistakes has been one of the hardest but most valuable experiences for Castiel, an ongoing trend that’s taught him humility.
What is their sign, and why?
The Hanged Man. For as long as the show runs, Cas has issues with finding a place he truly fits and belongs. Outcast from Heaven, and being far too strange and alien for the human world, Cas drifts in between. The Winchesters have called him family, but it's never quite the same as the bond between Sam and Dean, and repeatedly disappointing Dean in the last couple seasons has left a rift between them. Going 50 shades of crazy for half of season 7 didn't help much either. He'll eventually become a leader for other angels that follow his path in commitment to protecting humanity, and he's the first of his kind to experience human emotion and empathy to the extent he does. Both superior angels and God Himself refer to Cas as defiant, defective, 'the one off the line with a crack in his chassis'.
SAMPLES & ARRIVAL
Samples:
A TDM top level + an earlier Abraxas log.
Arrival Scenario: Free Cities
pt 2