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Monday, 29 August 2016 23:39Player information
Name: Shade
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Are you 18 or over? Yes
Other characters played: John Cooper![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
emotioneater
Character information
Name: Walter Kovacs/Rorschach
Age: 45 at time of death, currently 76
Date of Birth: March 21, 1940
Canon: Watchmen
Species: Ghost. While Rorschach is a human in his canon, he is oftentimes emotionally troubled and removed from humanity as a whole. He can't really connect with those around him, even his fellow superheroes. As a ghost, these troubles would be magnified to a higher degree, being unable to even manifest or talk with people for many years.
Role: Hillingdon or Redbright. Rorschach would head for the factions that he feels most comfortable in. As a former hunter, he'd seek out Hillingdon to be around those that remind him of what he was in life. Redbright could be a possible alternative in that the staff could help him learn to manifest.
Rank: 1
Background: Warning: Mentions of child abuse, torture, and child death ahead.
Walter Kovacs was born on March 21st, 1940 in New York City. His father was already long gone by the time he was born and his mother Sylvia was a prostitute who abused young Walter at every turn. When two neighborhood bullies mocked him for having a whore for a mother when he was ten years old, he brutally attacked them. Social services finally became involved and he was sent to a boy's home. It was here, where he excelled in literature, that he first became aware of the supernatural world through his readings. Unlike some, who might have wanted to study magic or become a member of the supernatural, Walter decided such a place seemed unnatural and unruly.
He had vague thoughts of becoming a hunter, but nothing concrete was ever put into effect until he heard of a young woman named Kitty Genovese being attacked while her neighbors did nothing. The whole thing sounded suspicious to him and the young twentysomething decided to investigate. It wasn't long before he found the meta-human who had done her in. He got enough evidence for the man to be punished by the New Amsterdam's Assembly, New York's equivalent of the Night Council. From then on, he was a hunter in the big city. He wore a mask in an attempt to hide his identity, maintain some privacy, and give him a face that he could stand to look at.
One of his first hunts was saving a young witch from a very angry fae who had become obsessed with her. In gratitude, she enchanted his mask to always be a series of ever changing inkblots. He wore it all the way to his death and even beyond. The mask gave him the nickname that other hunters eventually referred to him as: Rorschach. During this period of time, he was still merciful, and reluctant to kill, though he showed a deep prejudice towards anyone who wasn't human.
He would occasionally join up with other hunters, but for the most part, Rorschach remained a loner, forming few friends or meaningful relationships. His obsession with hunting overtook his whole life in 1975. A little girl was kidnapped by a werewolf. Rorschach promised her parents she would come home safely. Instead, he discovered the wolf had killed her, butchered her body, and eaten her. Rorschach snapped and killed the werewolf in cold blood. After that, what was left of Walter Kovacs seemed to fade away until there was only his hunting persona left.
In 1985, someone killed an old, experienced hunter named Eddie Blake. Rorschach became immediately suspicious and warned his fellow hunters, most of whom had retired or moved on from the hunting business by then. He and an old friend, Dan Dreiburg, found evidence that Adrian Veidt, another hunter, was planning to team up with the fae to gain what they thought was ultimate power. They followed Veidt to London, where he revealed his true plan: he was going to cast a spell that would prevent supernatural beings from entering several major cities entirely all over the world, an extreme method to make them safer places for human beings. All that he needed to do was sacrifice a certain number of people from each city to do so.
Rorschach had a choice: stopping Veidt meant letting innocent people become the victims of werewolves, vampires, fae, and others who wanted to harm them. But letting him get away with it meant that others would have to die. For the first time in his life, what Rorschach knew was right in his heart didn't match up with what he knew was right in his head. He begged the extremely powerful fae at the scene to kill him instead of compromising his ideals. The fae obliged.
Shortly after death, Rorschach had realized he'd become what he hated most: a member of the supernatural community as a ghost. The memories of his death were hazy and he couldn't remember how or why he had died. He couldn't understand why he hadn't moved on and figured that his unfinished business was because he wasn't ready to stop being a hunter. To continue on was easier said than done. Rorschach had all the social skills of a mangy alley cat and was as antisocial as they came. Forming an anchor would be hard if not impossible. He went years and years without making any progress, stranded between life and death, unable to communicate with anyone. His memory of his life began to fade and some of the details were lost.
Eventually, he made his way to Hillingdon, attracted by the community of hunters that reminded him so much of home. He became the resident ghost, taking up space in the house. Calm and comfortable for the first time in over thirty years, he became part of the house's furniture, and found himself able to manifest for the first time. He decided this was where he belonged. These days, he manifests mostly to either criticize the hunters and their "soft methods", or more rarely, to offer a piece of well-meaning advice.
Personality: Rorschach is someone who thinks entirely in black and white, i.e. moral absolutes. There is no in-between or shades of grey where he is concerned. As a hunter, it was a wonderful, brutal method to deal with the supernatural beings. He saw vampires and werewolves as being complete monsters. Fae and shapeshifters were little better. Meta-humans and witches he still saw as being worthy of being called human beings, though he considered them both to be freaks. Ghosts, ironically, he never thought much of until he became one.
While Rorschach may seem tough, gruff, and laconic on the outside, it's a different story on the inside. Here was someone who could feel things deeply that the world treated badly. After being bruised and hurt one too many times, he went in the opposite direction, shutting down his emotions entirely instead of risking anyone breaking him down any further.
This was reflected in the deep divide between who he was as Walter and who he was as Rorschach. Walter felt empathy for the victims of supernatural attacks. Rorschach saw them as being weak. Walter let the supernatural beings live even when they did wrong. Rorschach brutally punished them for their transgressions. Walter was someone who needed to be around humanity, even as disconnected from it as he was. Rorschach needed nothing, not friends, food, or even sleep. All he was created for was to do his job and do it well.
Since he's died, this acute divide between the two sides of his personality has begun to blur once more. Little pieces of his emotional side, long thought dead, have begun to waken from dormancy. While it's currently only manifesting itself as a need to be around and occasionally talk to people, the potential there to grow into something more is there.
When he was alive, he was anti-social and reclusive. Occasionally, he would work with other hunters, but for the most part, he preferred to keep everyone at arm's length, not letting them through the hard shell he worked to create around him. This was an extreme method to prevent himself from getting hurt. As a ghost, not much has changed. Now, when he doesn't want to interact with someone, he can just fade away instead of manifesting.
One thing that has remained with Rorschach both as a human and a ghost is his need to interact with people. It's the one last part that remains of humanity and the man that Walter used to be. Despite keeping everyone else at arm's length, he did keep track of one friend when he was alive. Dan Dreiburg and he were partners for a time and Rorschach tried harder with him than anyone else, going so far as to apologize when he was acting difficult during their last case together.
There's the cliche of being careful what you wish for. Rorschach always wanted to be left alone. As a ghost, he got his wish in the worst way possible. Spending so many years by himself has made him develop an acute sense of loneliness. Despite his hard shell, he's developed a longing to both interact with people and connect with them on an emotional level. Yet he's still unsure how to do that, barely having enough power to manifest himself and being emotionally crippled to an unhealthy extreme.
Powers & Possessions: He has the usual powers of a ghost, though he is far weaker than ghosts of his age due to his lack of emotional connections. Right now, all he can do is manifest himself.
Samples: Sample 1: What do you mean Raw-Shark?
Sample 2: Rorschach was up early in the Hillingdon House. He was down in the kitchen, staring at the jar of sugar like he was going to burn a hole in it by sheer force of will. Many things had faded from his time as a human being. He'd forgotten how to breathe, what sleeping and dreaming felt like, and even what it had been like to be visible all the time. What hadn't faded was the memory of sugar cubes. He'd always had some in his pocket, chomping on them whenever the urge struck him. Right now, he'd give up what passed for a soul to have a bite of just one.
If anyone came into the kitchen, his head would whip around, alarmed, and he'd suddenly disappear. When he realized it was just another resident of Hillingdon, he flickered back into existence, taking up residence at the table once again. He didn't say hello or make any introduction. This was on par for interactions with the quiet, laconic ghost. Rorschach was always just sort of there, like a piece of furniture that they just couldn't seem to get rid of. He waited until most of the residents had dispersed for the day before heading off into their rooms. Some might consider it a breach of privacy, but unless they wanted to start putting salt lines around their doors to keep him out, Rorschach would continue his nosy behavior.
He found a curious file of paperwork strewn out across one desk. Someone was working a case involving a pattern of people who had suddenly vanished, each happening at the same time every month. Some might have thought it the work of vampires or werewolves, but glancing at the profiles of the victims made Rorschach think it was fae, kidnapping beautiful people for their own wants. Well, he could find that out quicker and better than any hunter there at Hillingdon. Being incorporeal had its benefits sometimes. He'd find out what precisely was going on and return to tell the hunter what he had found. The day was suddenly looking up.
World building
Locations: New Amsterdam's Assembly, run out of a seemingly harmless looking skyscraper in Manhattan. The equivalent in New York to the Night Council, they've been around in some form or another since the colony was first formed in 1626.
Items: A mask that he was wearing when he died, enchanted with the Blotting spell.
Magic: Blotting. A low-level spell that allows the user to create a series of ever-changing shapes when attached to a surface to put them on. The shapes can be either colorful or simple black shadows. Though it's mostly used as a party trick, skilled witches can make the spell last for years.
Name: Shade
Contact:
Are you 18 or over? Yes
Other characters played: John Cooper
emotioneaterCharacter information
Name: Walter Kovacs/Rorschach
Age: 45 at time of death, currently 76
Date of Birth: March 21, 1940
Canon: Watchmen
Species: Ghost. While Rorschach is a human in his canon, he is oftentimes emotionally troubled and removed from humanity as a whole. He can't really connect with those around him, even his fellow superheroes. As a ghost, these troubles would be magnified to a higher degree, being unable to even manifest or talk with people for many years.
Role: Hillingdon or Redbright. Rorschach would head for the factions that he feels most comfortable in. As a former hunter, he'd seek out Hillingdon to be around those that remind him of what he was in life. Redbright could be a possible alternative in that the staff could help him learn to manifest.
Rank: 1
Background: Warning: Mentions of child abuse, torture, and child death ahead.
Walter Kovacs was born on March 21st, 1940 in New York City. His father was already long gone by the time he was born and his mother Sylvia was a prostitute who abused young Walter at every turn. When two neighborhood bullies mocked him for having a whore for a mother when he was ten years old, he brutally attacked them. Social services finally became involved and he was sent to a boy's home. It was here, where he excelled in literature, that he first became aware of the supernatural world through his readings. Unlike some, who might have wanted to study magic or become a member of the supernatural, Walter decided such a place seemed unnatural and unruly.
He had vague thoughts of becoming a hunter, but nothing concrete was ever put into effect until he heard of a young woman named Kitty Genovese being attacked while her neighbors did nothing. The whole thing sounded suspicious to him and the young twentysomething decided to investigate. It wasn't long before he found the meta-human who had done her in. He got enough evidence for the man to be punished by the New Amsterdam's Assembly, New York's equivalent of the Night Council. From then on, he was a hunter in the big city. He wore a mask in an attempt to hide his identity, maintain some privacy, and give him a face that he could stand to look at.
One of his first hunts was saving a young witch from a very angry fae who had become obsessed with her. In gratitude, she enchanted his mask to always be a series of ever changing inkblots. He wore it all the way to his death and even beyond. The mask gave him the nickname that other hunters eventually referred to him as: Rorschach. During this period of time, he was still merciful, and reluctant to kill, though he showed a deep prejudice towards anyone who wasn't human.
He would occasionally join up with other hunters, but for the most part, Rorschach remained a loner, forming few friends or meaningful relationships. His obsession with hunting overtook his whole life in 1975. A little girl was kidnapped by a werewolf. Rorschach promised her parents she would come home safely. Instead, he discovered the wolf had killed her, butchered her body, and eaten her. Rorschach snapped and killed the werewolf in cold blood. After that, what was left of Walter Kovacs seemed to fade away until there was only his hunting persona left.
In 1985, someone killed an old, experienced hunter named Eddie Blake. Rorschach became immediately suspicious and warned his fellow hunters, most of whom had retired or moved on from the hunting business by then. He and an old friend, Dan Dreiburg, found evidence that Adrian Veidt, another hunter, was planning to team up with the fae to gain what they thought was ultimate power. They followed Veidt to London, where he revealed his true plan: he was going to cast a spell that would prevent supernatural beings from entering several major cities entirely all over the world, an extreme method to make them safer places for human beings. All that he needed to do was sacrifice a certain number of people from each city to do so.
Rorschach had a choice: stopping Veidt meant letting innocent people become the victims of werewolves, vampires, fae, and others who wanted to harm them. But letting him get away with it meant that others would have to die. For the first time in his life, what Rorschach knew was right in his heart didn't match up with what he knew was right in his head. He begged the extremely powerful fae at the scene to kill him instead of compromising his ideals. The fae obliged.
Shortly after death, Rorschach had realized he'd become what he hated most: a member of the supernatural community as a ghost. The memories of his death were hazy and he couldn't remember how or why he had died. He couldn't understand why he hadn't moved on and figured that his unfinished business was because he wasn't ready to stop being a hunter. To continue on was easier said than done. Rorschach had all the social skills of a mangy alley cat and was as antisocial as they came. Forming an anchor would be hard if not impossible. He went years and years without making any progress, stranded between life and death, unable to communicate with anyone. His memory of his life began to fade and some of the details were lost.
Eventually, he made his way to Hillingdon, attracted by the community of hunters that reminded him so much of home. He became the resident ghost, taking up space in the house. Calm and comfortable for the first time in over thirty years, he became part of the house's furniture, and found himself able to manifest for the first time. He decided this was where he belonged. These days, he manifests mostly to either criticize the hunters and their "soft methods", or more rarely, to offer a piece of well-meaning advice.
Personality: Rorschach is someone who thinks entirely in black and white, i.e. moral absolutes. There is no in-between or shades of grey where he is concerned. As a hunter, it was a wonderful, brutal method to deal with the supernatural beings. He saw vampires and werewolves as being complete monsters. Fae and shapeshifters were little better. Meta-humans and witches he still saw as being worthy of being called human beings, though he considered them both to be freaks. Ghosts, ironically, he never thought much of until he became one.
While Rorschach may seem tough, gruff, and laconic on the outside, it's a different story on the inside. Here was someone who could feel things deeply that the world treated badly. After being bruised and hurt one too many times, he went in the opposite direction, shutting down his emotions entirely instead of risking anyone breaking him down any further.
This was reflected in the deep divide between who he was as Walter and who he was as Rorschach. Walter felt empathy for the victims of supernatural attacks. Rorschach saw them as being weak. Walter let the supernatural beings live even when they did wrong. Rorschach brutally punished them for their transgressions. Walter was someone who needed to be around humanity, even as disconnected from it as he was. Rorschach needed nothing, not friends, food, or even sleep. All he was created for was to do his job and do it well.
Since he's died, this acute divide between the two sides of his personality has begun to blur once more. Little pieces of his emotional side, long thought dead, have begun to waken from dormancy. While it's currently only manifesting itself as a need to be around and occasionally talk to people, the potential there to grow into something more is there.
When he was alive, he was anti-social and reclusive. Occasionally, he would work with other hunters, but for the most part, he preferred to keep everyone at arm's length, not letting them through the hard shell he worked to create around him. This was an extreme method to prevent himself from getting hurt. As a ghost, not much has changed. Now, when he doesn't want to interact with someone, he can just fade away instead of manifesting.
One thing that has remained with Rorschach both as a human and a ghost is his need to interact with people. It's the one last part that remains of humanity and the man that Walter used to be. Despite keeping everyone else at arm's length, he did keep track of one friend when he was alive. Dan Dreiburg and he were partners for a time and Rorschach tried harder with him than anyone else, going so far as to apologize when he was acting difficult during their last case together.
There's the cliche of being careful what you wish for. Rorschach always wanted to be left alone. As a ghost, he got his wish in the worst way possible. Spending so many years by himself has made him develop an acute sense of loneliness. Despite his hard shell, he's developed a longing to both interact with people and connect with them on an emotional level. Yet he's still unsure how to do that, barely having enough power to manifest himself and being emotionally crippled to an unhealthy extreme.
Powers & Possessions: He has the usual powers of a ghost, though he is far weaker than ghosts of his age due to his lack of emotional connections. Right now, all he can do is manifest himself.
Samples: Sample 1: What do you mean Raw-Shark?
Sample 2: Rorschach was up early in the Hillingdon House. He was down in the kitchen, staring at the jar of sugar like he was going to burn a hole in it by sheer force of will. Many things had faded from his time as a human being. He'd forgotten how to breathe, what sleeping and dreaming felt like, and even what it had been like to be visible all the time. What hadn't faded was the memory of sugar cubes. He'd always had some in his pocket, chomping on them whenever the urge struck him. Right now, he'd give up what passed for a soul to have a bite of just one.
If anyone came into the kitchen, his head would whip around, alarmed, and he'd suddenly disappear. When he realized it was just another resident of Hillingdon, he flickered back into existence, taking up residence at the table once again. He didn't say hello or make any introduction. This was on par for interactions with the quiet, laconic ghost. Rorschach was always just sort of there, like a piece of furniture that they just couldn't seem to get rid of. He waited until most of the residents had dispersed for the day before heading off into their rooms. Some might consider it a breach of privacy, but unless they wanted to start putting salt lines around their doors to keep him out, Rorschach would continue his nosy behavior.
He found a curious file of paperwork strewn out across one desk. Someone was working a case involving a pattern of people who had suddenly vanished, each happening at the same time every month. Some might have thought it the work of vampires or werewolves, but glancing at the profiles of the victims made Rorschach think it was fae, kidnapping beautiful people for their own wants. Well, he could find that out quicker and better than any hunter there at Hillingdon. Being incorporeal had its benefits sometimes. He'd find out what precisely was going on and return to tell the hunter what he had found. The day was suddenly looking up.
World building
Locations: New Amsterdam's Assembly, run out of a seemingly harmless looking skyscraper in Manhattan. The equivalent in New York to the Night Council, they've been around in some form or another since the colony was first formed in 1626.
Items: A mask that he was wearing when he died, enchanted with the Blotting spell.
Magic: Blotting. A low-level spell that allows the user to create a series of ever-changing shapes when attached to a surface to put them on. The shapes can be either colorful or simple black shadows. Though it's mostly used as a party trick, skilled witches can make the spell last for years.
