Post by Puck on Feb 8, 2011 17:15:25 GMT -5
~~~Welcome to Dreaming of Utopia!~~~
~~~The Basics~~~
Character Image
Character Name
Puck, aka Robin Goodfellow, aka Owen Burnett
Character's Origin
Gargoyles
~~~About My Character~~~
What is your character's history? Are they a hero, or a villain, a sidekick or guardian? What has happened to them in their lives to make them the way they are today?
Puck is... well, the Puck, whose status tends to depend on who you ask. To some, Puck is a sidekick. To others, a villain. To still others, a guardian.
The Puck is a Child of Oberon in more than the usual sense. The King of the Faeries found a young Greek child three thousand years previously and invited her to come with him to be his friend and play forever. He made her his changeling, a human-turned-faerie, and made her his close companion.
Once being made a faerie, Puck became an essentially sexless creature. 'his' ability to change shape makes it difficult to pin down pronouns, so for general use Puck is typically referred to as male unless he's in a female form- a state which can become his default if Oberon orders it. He spends a great deal of time in both male and female forms.
Unusually, Oberon made young Puck into a hobgoblin, a rather aggressive and territorial species of faerie more commonly known for its bloodlust rather than its social skills, rather than a more gentle species. He did this because as the King's changeling, Puck would need to be able to defend himself and sometimes him against faeries who disagreed with Oberon's politics. Puck's hobgoblin instincts are kept in check by his connection to his King, turning his nature from malicious predator to a more benign penchant for mischief.
As a changeling, Puck learned to utilize faerie magic, or Glamour, to various ends. These included shapeshifting, a favorite weapon in a trickster's arsenal. His ability to change form let him pull tricks on anyone he liked, including other faeries and most especially humans. For interactions with humans, he often adopted a male guise, because for most of human history, if you wanted to get anything done among mortals you had to be male.
Throughout the centuries the Puck has been interacting with faeries and humans alike, often crossing swords (and claws, and fangs) with members of the Nicnivin's faerie court, which was opposed to that of Oberon and his queen Titania. Puck's loyalty to his lord caused much tension between his and other hobgoblins, who exclusively sided with Nicnivin. The same fact of his hobgoblin nature tended to put his at odds with many faeries of Oberon's own court, who regarded his with the same amount of goodwill one might afford a ticking time bomb. Regarded as a traitor by the hobgoblins and a lurking threat by his king's subjects, Puck came to spend more and more time among mortals, entertaining himself by playing tricks on them when Oberon didn't have need of his services. Sorcerers and mages were his favorite targets, because the possession of magic tended to inspire a sense of invulnerability and superiority in humans that Puck found irresistible.
One such sorcerer was Maxim Horvath, a powerful Morganian. In the 1920s, Horvath attempted to trick Puck into a contract that would force him to help him capture his rival, Balthazar Blake. Puck played along with it for a short time, but warned Balthazar that Horvath was coming for him, allowing the Merlinean sorcerer to capture Horvath within the Grimhold. Puck was disconcerted by this- to him, it was dishonorable just to capture an enemy. In his view, one should either kill an enemy outright or let him go to fight again.
Later that century, s/he discovered Titania dallying with a mortal named Renard. To keep an eye on the situation, Puck created a new role for himself based on Renard's assistant Preston Vogel, reasoning that, out of all the roles he has ever played, he'd never been 'the straight man'. Puck found that he greatly enjoyed his time as Owen Burnett, to the point that when David Xanatos, the boyfriend of the Renards' daughter Fox, asked that Owen stay on in his service, Puck agreed.
Owen served Xanatos faithfully, assisting him in his myriads of elaborate schemes. A more loyal assistant could not be asked for. He treated the mastermind much as he treated Oberon. Whatever Xanatos asked, Owen did for him, even if it meant sacrificing a hand to the Cauldron of Life in order to test its ability to grant immortality. Owen's hand was turned to stone by the cauldron, which caused Puck some trouble until he was able to remove the magic on it. He thereafter used his Glamour to maintain the illusion that Owen's hand was still stone. Upon the birth of Xanatos's son by Fox, Owen/Puck was charged with teaching young Alexander about his magic and faerie lineage. He did so, and over time he came to realize that something was missing in his faerie life.
Puck was rapidly becoming dissatisfied with merely being Oberon's changeling. More and more often his act as his jester was that- an act, and a mask. Though s/he enjoyed being a trickster, there was a certain emptiness about it now. He realized that he had quite liked being Owen, having a human life and work. More importantly, he had quite loved his time as Alexander Xanatos's guardian. Faeries love children, though only a few of the greatest Old Ones (like Titania) are able to produce them.
He promptly buried the sense of longing and returned to his duties as Oberon's Puck, returning to his mask and act. Now he's gotten a chance to wander the mortal worlds again, and he's looking for mischief once again.
Describe your character's personality. What are their strengths and weaknesses, what are their passions? What qualities do they have that are good or bad?
Puck's primary motivation is mischief, a more socially-acceptable version of the mischief caused by most hobgoblins. Whereas his kin pull tricks in order to hurt things, he does it for fun. When bound against his will, he will go out of his way to be as literal as possible while at the same time causing his captor no end of grief. He also enjoys teasing people, even when said people are quite likely to then turn around and obliterate his (or try to, anyway). He's quick and clever, with a knack for figuring out just how to annoy someone or make them laugh. He's also impulsive, doing things with little regard for consequences. After all, He's a powerful faerie, and as far as he knows, the list of people who could actually call him to task for his actions is extremely short. When he is caught off-guard by someone who can reprimand his, the results tend to be very disastrous. He has a streak of arrogance and is cocky enough for an entire wing of fighter jocks. His mischief often causes people to be upset, but most of the time, he simply doesn't care if he makes them angry. The one line he draws is that he won't hurt a child, or pull malicious tricks on them (unless they are a very naughty child, and even then his tricks are meant more to be a morality lesson than a punishment).
As Oberon's jester, he is used to speaking his mind when no one else will, and as a faerie, he is good at finding loopholes in nearly any instruction. Those who try to compel him against her will typically regret it, as he can be quite vindictive. When pushed into a physical confrontation, Puck can be caught up in hobgoblin bloodlust, though this is rare as Oberon will typically reel him in at this point.
His lightheartedness is sometimes an act that covers a growing loneliness and dissatisfaction. Few people care to get to know the real Puck anymore, being too taken in by the Trickster to bother looking further. His interactions with mortals are generally brief and superficial, particularly his (many) romantic ones.
Like all faeries, he is vulnerable to Cold Iron, but his age and power grants him some resistance. A touch of Cold Iron will not burn him, but he can be bound with iron chains, a wound inflicted by an iron weapon will cause him much pain, and liquid forms of iron like ferric nitrate act like an acid. Both will heal slowly and may even require the aid of Oberon to eradicate entirely, especially if the iron enters his bloodstream. He is bound by his word when he gives it and can be forced to obey if he is made to agree to do something three times. When this happens, sheer perversity leads him to act in any way possible that allows his revenge on the person who binds his while still technically being within the bounds of the contract. One such instance of this was when the gargoyle Demona attempted to use Puck to kill all the humans in New York. Demona's orders were phrased in such a way that Puck managed to avoid doing so by 'getting rid of the humans'- by turning them into gargoyles. He later got some measure of revenge on the gargoyle female by cursing her to be human by day and gargoyle by night.
Puck is made distinctly uncomfortable by thanks, as he does not care to have others in his debt or be in anyone's debt, for faerie custom demands that debts be settled as soon as possible.
Puck's abilities are centered around her Glamour. He uses this mainly for shapeshifting- his forms are all actually elaborate, full-sensory illusions over his true hobgoblin shape (part of why gender assignments are so fluid- s/he is not truly one or the other). His bright green Glamour can be used to heal injuries (though his ability to heal others is very limited), conjure some items, cast elaborate illusions, along with some offensive magical attacks and defenses, though he rarely uses it for this purpose. His ability to fly and teleport are derived from his faerie nature. He is, at bottom, Oberon's creature. When he gives him an order, he absolutely must obey, and Oberon doesn't allow him to get away with twisting his words to suit himself. He maintains a mental connection to him, and when vexed he can cause him a great deal of pain.
Puck's default shape varies widely and is entirely at the whim of his Lord Oberon. He takes whatever form that Oberon desires, and he has been known to be fickle, often having him change it several times in a decade. It doesn't really matter what form Puck appears as- at bottom, he's a hobgoblin.
~~~Sample~~~
Give us a small sample of how you will play your character. Give us at least three paragraphs.
Oh, she loved being Owen. Few mortals were as crafty as her Lord Oberon, and Owen's employer David Xanatos was one of them.
Puck stood in Owen's rooms, inspecting her appearance in the mirror. Her normal default shape these days was that of a slender, rather androgynous woman with long white hair and ridiculously pointed ears, as Oberon wished. The shape was androgynous enough that she could pass for male in it, and often did because it was easier than explaining that whole mess with Billy back in the sixteenth century.
The ears, though... Puck tugged at the tip of one. Oberon had some odd tastes sometimes. Oh well. Who was she to argue with her Lord? She was female now at his command. In a month or two he could direct her default appearance to become a big man with jet black hair and skin if he liked, and there wasn't much she could say against it.
The intercom in her room beeped once.
“Owen?” Xanatos's voice said. “I need you in the conference room. Our guests will be arriving shortly.”
Puck cleared her throat and pressed the intercom button. “Yes, Mr. Xanatos,” she said in Owen's voice. “I will be right up.”
Time to go. A flicker of green light- her Glamour- and the white-haired, pointy-eared girl was replaced by a tall, slender blond man with round spectacles, dressed in an impeccably neat suit. Puck- now Owen- glanced at his left hand and made a fist. A second green flicker, and the hand and most of the forearm changed, becoming hard and gray as stone. He couldn't forget that. If he forgot about his supposedly petrified hand, Xanatos would know something was up, and that would be a shame after all the work Puck had put into making the man forget he had a faerie in his employ.
A final glance in the mirror showed that the transformation was complete. Owen Burnett's impassive face looked back at him. That was the delight in this role, showing no signs that anything was funny, and yet being able to make the most delightful snarky comments at opportune times.
Oh, he loved being Owen.
~~~Bonding~~~
Why this character? What draws you to them, what makes you want to play them? Do you have anything in common with them?
The Puck is the ultimate trickster, with a long history that makes him delightful to exploit. I do enjoy indulging my own mischievous streak, and what character is better to do that with than the Puck? Horvath provides an outlet for snark and an exercise in manipulating plots; Puck will allow me to relate with more characters in a wider array of fashions. Usually that will entail letting him poke monkey wrenches into plots, but he's not malicious. Maybe he'll get to make a friend who will settle him some...
A good friend of mine plays a different variation of Robin Goodfellow, and I wanted to try my hand at putting my own spin on the character. This version is based somewhat off of hers, altered to fit into the Gargoyles version, with a few dashes of other faerie lore tossed in for good measure.
What would you like your custom title to be? This can be anything you like in reference to your character and will appear under your name.
Trickster
Who else do you play here?
Maxim Horvath
~~~Newbies~~~
What is your name? (If you're not comfortable telling us your real name, that's fine. Just give us a pen name that we can use when addressing you.)
You lot know me as Maxim, but I also respond to Gryphon or Gryph
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Writer, artist, knitter, spinner, animation student, general geek.
How did you find us? I honestly don't remember. I think it was the RPG directory back when we were hosted on Disney Uncut.
What do you think of the site so far? Quite enjoying it so far.
Did you pm The Dreamer with the secret sentence? (If you haven't, check the rules!)
Yep
