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synodiporia_ooc2014-01-27 01:49 pm
powersthatbe) wrote in synodiporia_ooc2014-01-27 01:49 pm
CHARACTER RECLAIMS
From now until endgame, Synodiporia is closed to new applications. However, players who dropped or idled characters but who do not have a behavioral strike against them may reclaim characters at any time. Dungeons and app windows are no longer necessary. Simply comment below with "I'd like to bring [character (username)] back!" And we'll take it from there. Players already at 3 characters who wish to bring back a 4th or 5th may do so so long as they're current on AC. Players wishing to bring in characters above 5 may request special mod permission. If you are uncertain if you qualify to reclaim, please email us at synodiporians@gmail.com and ask! |
Re: revisions
CANON PERSONALITY: Jocelyn likes to think of herself as wise and objective, a mediating force in a frenzied world.
In some ways, this is true. She began as a gentle, thoughtful person, and she strives to remain that way. She tries her utmost to be fair and compassionate, and for the most part, it comes easily to her. She was an anchor to her mother, a bulwark for her bother, a confidante to her comrades on the battlefield. She cares about people, sincerely and fervently.
However, her past has left its mark on her. Jocelyn knows how it feels to be helpless, unable to protect yourself or the people you care for. She's sworn never to feel that way again, and that vow has formed into an intense need for control.
For better or worse, she has the power to seize it. Along with this comes a certain arrogance, compounded by the sense that she knows what's best for other people.
Always, Jocelyn is a strategist, even in her day to day life. It's simply how her mind works, calculating and analytical; she plays to win. This isn't to say she can't be sincere and compassionate, even fun and silly - but for the most part, it's mind above heart. Occasionally, it can seem that she doesn't have the latter.
Some people knew better than that. Her mother always nourished the best in her, soothing her fears and banishing her doubts. Moira saw the laughter in her eyes, and drew it out. They would spend hours together, losing themselves in theories and formulas, dreaming of the world they would make.
She's not above manipulating people, with or without her abilities, to further those goals. It is, after all, for the common good, and she's not truly hurting anyone. She'll avoid that as long as possible; she had to maim and kill in the war, and it sickened her to the core. She felt those people die.
Her ideals were, essentially, forged in blood and fire. They're consequently very hard to deter, and she finds it difficult to compromise. Perhaps, if she was more willing, she and Mara could have come to an accord.
It's something she'll always regard wistfully. There are so many things she regrets, and part of her crusade of protection and unity is making up for her own mistakes, her own inabilities to act. She couldn't save her mother, couldn't save Cain, couldn't keep Moira; she killed in Korea, killed Farouk. She takes too much responsibility on herself. It is, in part, out of her own arrogance – why shouldn't she be able to control the world around her?
She wonders, in her darkest moments, if that's why Moira broke it off. If her first love saw through all the pretty lies she tells herself. So many people in her life just leave, one way or another – surely it isn't coincidence. It's that sort of thinking that plunged her back into the battlefield, blind to the dangers around her. It's that sort of thinking that cost her her legs.
Usually, though, she's stalwart in her own righteousness. She needs to believe in herself, in her dream, if she's going to achieve anything. What is she, without that?
This dedication – or, one might say, stubborness – came to the fore in her debates with Ada Lehnsherr. (Mara, at the time.) They ended up going in circles, both set in their own visions of the future. Mara thought the only way to keep mutants safe was to conquer humanity; Jocelyn insisted that they could coexist in peace.
It should have been no surprise, when Hydra attacked, that Mara defaulted immediately to lethal tactics. A part of Jocelyn thought they deserved it, that she shouldn't care, but she knows where that sort of justification can lead. She does her utmost to treat all life as sacred, and mourn the loss of it. She killed the Shadow King because her left her no choice; she will do her best not to be cornered like that again.
What she wants, above all else, is to make the world safe for those most vulnerable; to protect everyone who needs it, human or mutant. Every mother trapped in an abusive relationship, ever child who doesn't feel safe in their own home, every girl told not to dream.
She's has chosen a difficult path. Many simply won't take a woman seriously, regardless of her credentials. Now, in a wheelchair, people are more likely to pity than respect her.
She won't let that stop her.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: Jocelyn is an AU of Charles Xavier.
Being a woman very much influenced who Jocelyn is. It gives her a perspective the Xavier in canon lacked. She knows what it's like to be dismissed and derided at a glance. She knows what it's like to bear persecution without power. She can hear people objectifying and deprecating her before they ever say a word, and could since she was ten years old.
Because of that, she can sympathise more easily with less diplomatic approaches, even if she doesn't agree. She understands enduring distrust and resentment. She won't sacrifice true equality for grudging acceptance. She will not, however, waver on her ultimate dream, which is one of peace.
If anything, her need for control is more pronounced, simply because people were less inclined to give her any, even over herself. Brian Xavier was happy to use her, and Kurt Marko was indifferent to her needs at best.
Her home life was also different. She was even closer with her mother; she was one of the few people in Jocelyn's life who truly loved her, and believed in her. Sharon was gentle and sweet and kind, and Jocelyn does her best to carry that with her.
Marko didn't respect her the way he would have a stepson, and Cain didn't resent her as he would a brother. She and Cain would sit up at nights, trading dreams and stories, wishing for a world where they would be safe. He's the reason she enlisted; he was drafted, and she wanted to protect him.
She blames herself for her brother's apparent death on the battlefield; another person she failed, another hole in her life.
The second biggest divergence comes soon after; it's the way she lost the use of her legs. Charles had his legs crushed in a battle against an invading alien; Jocelyn was paralysed in Korea. In canon, after Charles received a letter from Moira breaking off their relationship, he drowned himself in the chaos of the battlefield, paying little heed to the danger around him. He got lucky; the mine didn't cause any permanent damage.
Jocelyn wasn't so fortunate. Her recovery was a long, arduous process, forlorn and frustrating. She's accustomed to finding solutions quickly, sweeping through her struggles with a stoic serenity. This was a fight she couldn't rush, an opponent she couldn't manipulate.
She did, however, have help. Sheila refused to let her fall into despair, working with her tirelessly until she could grasp independence again. Jocelyn was quite taken; she's generally attracted to women who are just as stubborn as she is.
But it was easier, safer, to go on her own way.
After this, her path was much likes Charles' – she fought the Shadow King in Egypt, and found Ada in Israel. By now, she's largely accepted how she's changed; she knows, most days, that it doesn't make her any lesser. She can still change the world.
no subject
Thank you for the revisions!
Okay, powercap-wise, we'll be switching out Jocelyn's normal telepathic powers for five skills picked from the Telepathic Network Skills list. While we prefer you to pick the prerequisites for advanced skill, if you're trying to recreate specific canon abilities, we can discuss and be flexible.
no subject
Would Network Archive Retrieval, Memory-Sharing, Filter Intrusion, Investigative Mind-Reading, and Psychic Protection work?
no subject
Yes! Just be sure to report them on the Acquired Skills page!
no subject