Application for Mask or Menace

[barbarus]

CONTENT WARNING FOR SLAVERY, TORTURE, VIOLENCE, DRUGS, SEXUAL CONTENT, CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE / INCEST, DEATH / SUICIDE.

〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Kerry
AGE: 30
JOURNAL: halfbloodly
IM / EMAIL: mysterytourist @ aim
PLURK: halfbloodly
RETURNING: 1 current character: Richard Gansey III, quaerit

〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Damianos of Akielos
CHARACTER AGE: 25
SERIES: Captive Prince
CHRONOLOGY: End canon
CLASS: Hero
HOUSING: With Laurent if possible!

BACKGROUND:


Captive Prince

Akielos, a fantasy state reminiscent of Ancient Greek, and particularly Spartan culture, is undergoing a period of change. The old King Theomedes has been dying from a strange and unspecified illness for a long time. On the night of his death, the heir to the throne Prince Damianos is surprised by soldiers in his chambers. He is brought to his former lover Jokaste, who reveals that he is to be enslaved, and that his illegitimate brother Kastor has taken the throne. He is sent to Vere, a former enemy of Akielos with which his brother has just negotiated a peace treaty. Damen had killed the Veretian Crown Prince in battle six years previously, and because of this, must keep his identity secret. The current leader of Vere is known only as the Regent, the uncle of the young prince Laurent, who is set to take the throne once he turns 21. Damen has been given to Laurent as a pleasure slave.

Damen focuses on the practical. Determined to get back to Akielos, he resolves to bear the humiliations of slavery and wait for an opportune moment to escape. This proves a difficult resolution to keep, when Laurent turns out to be very good at provoking Damen's temper. He seems keen to find reasons to punish, humiliate and hurt Damen, particularly when the Regent insists that the 'gift' from Akielos should be treated with respect. Laurent attempts to have Damen raped, only to be frustrated when Damen knocks out his attacker, and then later has him flayed almost to death with a whip.

Despite this, he is able to develop more friendly relationships with his guards. He starts to learn about Veretian culture, and begins to be caught up in the intrigue of the Veretian court. He quickly finds that he is out of his depth, as he becomes a pawn in Laurent and the Regent's attempts to undermine each other. Laurent continues to find ways of exerting his control over Damen, including by forcing him to take part in a sexual 'performance' with one of the courtier's pet lovers. Though regularly humiliated, he puts his own feelings aside when he discovers that other Akielon slaves have been sent to the court, and are being badly treated there. He offers willing subservience to Laurent in exchange for his helping the slaves - which Laurent does, by gifting them to the care of the prince of Patras, a country in which they will be better treated.

Damen's feelings towards Laurent are coloured by this cooperation. He later finds himself brought to Laurent's room at night, only to witness Laurent being attacked by guards with Akielon weapons. Damen acts instinctively to defend him. Afterwards, he realises he has a chance to escape - the attack had left the halls empty of guards. He tries to run, but is recaptured, and when he is blamed for the attack, it is Laurent who defends him. When Laurent is forced into agreeing to take military service at the border, Damen realises that the Regent had been behind the attack, and that he had intended to blame it on Akielos and plunge the countries back into open war. He asks to be taken to the border, where he will keep Laurent safe and try to stop the Regent's plans. Laurent at length agrees.

Prince’s Gambit

During the ride south, Damen becomes a fully fledged member of Laurent's army, and has higher status than most because he is seen as Laurent's personal 'pet'. Used to the life of a soldier, he falls into old habits of checking weapons, following routine, and marking out troublemakers among the men. His identity as Damianos remains secret, but it is known that he was an Akielon soldier, and he spends his nights advising Laurent on movements and strategy. His dynamic with Laurent changes as they work together. Both claim not to trust each other, yet Damen's experience helps Laurent to win battles and he personally saves Laurent's life more than once.

At the same time, Laurent is also working in private to secure alliances that his men do not know about. Damen, acting as a personal guard, is taken into towns and villages in disguise, and he begins to enjoy his adventures with Laurent. It is also revealed that his initial impression of Laurent as bookish and spoiled had been wrong; he is actually a well trained and capable fighter, having learned to fight so that he could one day kill the man who killed his brother. Damen is simultaneously impressed and worried, reminded again that his life is forfeit if his true identity is discovered. As the group moves south, Damen continues to show his worth as a strategist, and his loyalties begin to be tested; he witnesses the results of an Akielon attack on a Veretian village and sympathises with the victims, and he begins to feel genuine respect and admiration for Laurent. He also grows more protective, reacting with panic and even violence when he thinks Laurent is in danger. Laurent eventually promises to free Damen if he helps him to end the trouble at the border.

Eventually, with Damen now captaining Laurent's men, they are able to take Ravenel - the strongest fortress in the border region. Laurent credits Damen with the victory. However, Jord - the soldier who had previously been Damen's closest friend - has discovered his identity. Jord believes that Laurent has feelings for Damen, and insists that Damen leave the next morning. If he doesn't, Jord will reveal who he really is. In spite of this, Damen and Laurent sleep together that night. The next morning, Laurent leaves without saying goodbye, and gives instruction for Damen to be freed and escorted to the border. Damen allows his collar and one cuff to be removed, but keeps the cuff on his left wrist attached, to remind himself of how he has changed during his time with Laurent. Just as he is leaving, Laurent unexpectedly, followed by a messenger from the Regent who demands that they meet in battle. Unable to bring himself to leave Laurent at such a time, Damen stays, and agrees to face the battle with him. Laurent rides ahead, leaving Damen in command of Ravenel, with instruction to wait there for his 'reinforcements'. This turns out to be the army of Akielons, led by Damen's old friend Nikandros - and they carry Laurent's signet ring. Damen realises that Laurent had planned to ally with Nikandros all along. With his own people before him, Damen goes out to meet Nikandros - who recognises him at once. The Akielons fall to their knees, announcing for all in Ravenel to hear that Damianos is alive.

King's Rising

As the Veretians react with horror to Damen's true identity, Damen orders the Akielons to take the fort, seeing this as the only way to avoid a fight. Nikandros and his men at once swear loyalty to Damen and proclaim him the true King, immediately siding with him and agreeing to fight Kastor for his throne. The revelation that he had been a slave in Vere horrifies and insults them and Damen must keep the peace, telling them to bear the humiliation as he has done. He finds his loyalty to Laurent unchanged and tries to convince the Veretians at Ravenel to ride out with him. Only Laurent's most loyal men, led by Jord, do so, and an uncertain alliance rides to Charcy. Laurent is supposed to meet them there but does not appear, making the Akielons assume he has betrayed them.

A message arrives to say that Laurent has control of the fort of Fortaine, and will receive Damen there. Damen steels himself to reveal his identity to Laurent - who immediately turns the tables on him, revealing that he had known since they first saw each other that Damen was Damianos. He says that he would not fail to recognise his brother's killer, but had put his feelings to one side because he needed Damen's help. Now acting cold and cruel to him again, Laurent offers strict terms for alliance; proof that the Regent had helped Kastor to take the Akielon throne in exchange for Damen's support in Vere and the return of the territory that Akielos had won when Laurent's brother was killed. Damen at length agrees. The deal is made and signed in public, much to the general horror of Damen's men. To appease them, Laurent gives the Akielons a public gift - he orders the ten captured raiders, who had attacked an Akielon village in the last book, to be publicly flogged. This is personally uncomfortable for Damen, since Laurent also presents him with the whip which had flayed his back. His retaliation is his own way of appeasing his people; he presents Laurent with the cuff that had been removed from his right hand, and puts it on Laurent's left, meaning that they both now wear a golden cuff. This helps soothe the Akielons' wounded pride over Damen's slavery, while Laurent bears it with barely concealed tension.

For Damen, the effects of his last few months are not so easy to soothe. Having experienced slavery for himself, he has developed an aversion to it, and refuses to have slaves in his presence. A combination of feeling changed by his experience in Vere and his now unrequited feelings for Laurent leaves him with a frustration that he is only able to ease through physical training. This he does every night, exhausting his body physically as a way of avoiding the tangle in his mind. In addition, the Regent has now turned his attention to Akielos; he frames a faction of Damen's soldiers for attacking a village, leading to Damen almost killing one of his own commanders - something that is stopped only by Laurent's voice. Eventually the tension between Damen and Laurent comes to a head; they fight, sparring at first, but then fighting for real. Damen defeats Laurent, proving that if Laurent had challenged him for killing his brother, he would have killed Laurent as well. Damen then puts a knife in Laurent's hand and tells him to take his vengeance; Laurent is unable to do it. Later, a drunken Laurent admits that he misses Damen, and Damen admits the same.

As they move south, the army finds an abandoned fort and takes possession of it. Within they find Jokaste, Damen's former lover. She claims to have given birth to his child, who is now being held by the Regent and his brother. Confronted with his past for the first time in months, Damen is overcome by grief for his father. It is Laurent who comforts him, and the two are reconciled. Laurent hatches a plan to rescue the child; they will go south without the army, and exchange Jokaste for the child at the Kingsmeet, a place where weapons are forbidden. However, rather than meeting the baby's wet nurse, as expected, they find that the Regent lies in wait for them. It becomes clear that Laurent had expected this - he planned to hand himself to the Regent for the child. However, that is not what the Regent wants. He tells Damen that he had used Laurent in his bed when the young Laurent sought comfort after Auguste's death. Damen, enraged beyond reason, draws his sword in the Kingsmeet and the Regent - the only recognised King present - orders him killed, in accordance with the Kingsmeet's laws. To save Damen, Laurent agrees to go with the Regent to Ios and face the trial that will end with his death. Damen is kept chained until dawn, and then released. He is left with a choice: to return to his army and face Kastor in battle, as he'd always planned, or to go after Laurent. He chooses Laurent, going to Ios in person and surrendering to his brother.

Damen is brought to Laurent's trial, where the Regent uses him as a final piece of evidence - the man who had killed Laurent's brother, now turned Laurent's lover. Damen tells the court that Laurent is the most honourable man he knows, and he is proud to be his lover - and then claims that the Regent has colluded with Kastor to take control of both of their countries. Laurent calls for a witness - Loyse, the wife of a courtier whose son had also been used by the Regent. However her evidence only proves that Damen had not killed his father; it does not prove Laurent's innocence. Damen suddenly realises that there is more to be revealed, and calls on Paschal - Laurent's physician - to speak. Paschal had previously hinted at dark reasons behind his decision to serve Laurent and not the Regent. He reveals a letter from his deceased brother, which contains proof that the Regent had arranged the death of Laurent's father at Marlas, the same battle at which Damen had killed Laurent's brother. The Veretians abandon the Regent to stand by Laurent. The Regent is executed for treason and Laurent orders his men to unchain Damen.

With the Regent gone, only Kastor remains. Damen chases him through the palace, eventually cornering him on the stairs by the slave baths, the same place that Damen had been brought the night of Kastor's treason. Kastor, who knows Damen well, feigns regret and pretends to surrender, dropping his sword. Damen, unwilling to cut his brother down in cold blood, says that he can't kill him, and promises that if Kastor swears fealty to him, he'll let him live under house arrest instead. Kastor pretends to embrace him, and stabs him with a knife instead. At that moment Laurent arrives, and chains Damen's remaining gold cuff to a slave chain. Knowing that Damen can't kill his own brother, Laurent takes up his sword and fights Kastor, killing him. Laurent goes to Damen, stopping the blood from his wound. They reflect on the fact that they are both now without family, and each holds their own Kingdom. Together they hold the centre. Laurent says that the two countries had once been one Kingdom, and it is more than a statement; it's a question, and Damen at once says yes. While they talk, the sound of bells rings out across Ios, proclaiming Damen as King.

PERSONALITY:

Damen is a man who prizes honour, duty and integrity, and who tries to live his life with those principles in mind. They are principles which were taught by his father, and which are prized by the Akielon people in general. For Damen, there are several different sides to the idea of honour. One is interpersonal; being an honourable man means that he will not break his word, that his promises are vows he will not break, and that his assurances can be trusted. He finds lying dishonourable, and he will avoid it where he can. He would rather tell half truths than an outright lie, and when he tries to lie, he's bad at it. He is judgmental of others who do lie, and of people who he considers to be deceptive in general. Damen is honest to the point of bluntness, preferring to speak plainly than obfuscate his meaning. This, to him, is honourable, even if it’s not what someone wants to hear.

There is also the practical side of honour, which for Damen and his people is characterised by their behaviour in war. Akielos had, under Damen’s father, been interested in expansion and conquest. Their reputation is fearsome; they are known as deadly fighters who prize strength and efficiency. For Damen, the greatest possible honour is victory in battle, particularly when earned by besting one’s opponent in a fair fight. It is despicable to him to harm an opponent who is obviously weaker than himself. He refuses to harm children, refuses to hit unarmed men, and is disgusted by people who take pleasure in hurting others. Though he takes absolutely no issue in killing and maiming enemy soldiers when he considers the fight to be fair, Damen is neither cruel nor sadistic. This is what honour means to Damen, and it is how he sees himself; strong, powerful, honourable, an Akielon hero and the best of their fighting men.

He’s also not short on pride. Experience has given Damen good reason to be proud; he’s never been bested in a fair fight, either on the battlefield or at sports, and he often finds a victory even when the odds are heavily against him. This means that he is not exactly overconfident; his appraisal of himself as the strongest fighter in any given room is, more often than not, accurate – at least in his canon. However, he’s far from humble. Damen is a man who knows his own worth and who carries an air of authority because of it. Raised as a Prince, he is used to having others defer to him, and when he is finally crowned as King, his command seems to suit him. Even when he is not King, and is surrounded by people who think he is a pet at best, and a slave at worst, he still holds a certain air of authority that he is rarely able to conceal. He generally has to remind himself to lower his eyes or get on his knees. He struggles to adjust to his own changing status, and never really behaves like a slave. It’s natural for him to give commands to other soldiers, natural for him to meet Laurent’s eyes as an equal even when they are not. Damen is proud and regal, even when he does not mean to be.

He is also proud of his country, and is deeply patriotic. One of the first things he is told as a slave is that he no longer has any identity, that he is no longer Damianos and no longer a Prince of Akielos. This never sinks in, no matter what his captors do to him. He never forgets who he is or where he has come from, and he never stops thinking about getting back home. Neither does he ever fully let go of the responsibilities he has been raised to shoulder as a Prince. Damen’s natural inclination is to right the wrong that has been done; he wants to escape, he wants to go home, he wants to reclaim his throne and he wants to confront his brother. However, his personal interest is something which he will put on hold in the name of duty. Damen twice decides against trying to escape, firstly to help the Akielon slaves, and secondly to support Laurent in avoiding war between Vere and Akielos. This latter decision is particularly notable, since Damen promises that he will be loyal to Laurent until they reach the border, and he does not make promises lightly. Breaking his word would be dishonourable to Damen – even though that means riding under the banner of a man who he considered an enemy from a distance, and a torturer in person. Damen is proud – but his duty to his country is more important to him than his pride, and is a point of honour in itself. Honour underpins every aspect of how he sees himself.

It also notably underpins his attitude to his enemies. Damen acknowledges that his mind runs along ‘straight lines’. He is honest to an absolute fault, not only in what he says and how he acts, but in how he thinks. He is incredibly straightforward, finding it difficult to understand the nuances in thinking that lead to deception and trickery. The people around him know that this is the case; his enemies use it against him and his friends try to warn him when he's wrong. He considers his own attitude to be essentially Akielon, while shadowed motives and deception are stereotypically Veretian - a prejudice he shares with many other Akielons, and which he learned from his father. For the young Damen, Vere is the enemy, and they represent the opposite of the ideals that he espouses. They are dishonourable, untrustworthy, and they tend towards intricate and deceptive ‘twisty’ plots that are both overcomplicated and generally dislikable. When Damen finds himself a pawn in the Veretian Court, his straightforward way of thinking leaves him unequipped to navigate the wordplay and hidden intent between Laurent and his uncle. It does not help that he is prejudiced to begin with, or that his initial impression of Laurent is coloured by Laurent’s cruelty towards him. On the battlefield, however, his more straightforward way of thinking becomes a wartime asset, frequently taking Laurent’s enemies by surprise. In this way, Damen’s honest way of thinking can be both a strength and weakness to him – but it is something that pervades through all of his experiences, and even when he comes to expect trickery from others, he remains unable to predict the form it might take or the thinking behind it.

However, Damen begins to grow and change as a result of his experiences. He has grown up in a country where slavery is not only accepted, but viewed as a sacred rite - slaves are trained from birth to be subservient, and their Akielon masters are taught to treat them kindly. Damen is very used to having slaves around him, and absolutely used to thinking that they are beneath him. However, once he experiences slavery for himself, and witnesses others being treated badly in Vere, he develops an abhorrence of slavery. This manifests slowly, first appearing as a discomfort that he does not really understand, and then blossoming into a genuine anathema that leads to him commanding that no slaves will serve him at all. By the end of his canon, Damen promises to end slavery altogether.

His attitude to Vere also changes, mainly as a result of his time in Laurent's army. He has been taught that victory in war is glorious and conquest desirable. He is also used to seeing war only from the perspective of his own people; he has never thought of the Veretians as anything more complex than an enemy to be defeated. As a member of Laurent's faction, Damen witnesses war from the other side. The impact of this complicates his feelings. It means that he is no longer able to view the Veretians in simple terms; he has seen honourable men among their number, and has witnessed Akielon behaviour that he cannot truly defend. For the first time, he begins to question how he has been raised, and decides that he no longer wants to be the kind of King who seeks the glory of war. He wants to seek peace, instead, and his formal alliance with Laurent is symbolic of this. Also symbolic of it is Damen's decision to keep wearing one of his cuffs of slavery. Having been through it, and had his ideals challenged and changed by it, he does not want to forget that it happened. He chooses to take his pain and turn it into a strength.

Despite this, there are ways in which Damen's experience does not change him at all. It is remarked upon both by Damen and by characters who know him that his impression of people is straightforward. Damen is trusting to a fault, often failing to see it when the people he imagines are friends are actually working against him. To Damen, it would be dishonourable to believe his friends are anything other than loyal.
This trait is central to Damen's character, and one he is unable to rid himself of even when experience proves him wrong. He is betrayed by his own brother, Kastor, and betrayed by his lover Jokaste. What Damen learns from this is not that he should be more circumspect, but that he trusted the wrong people. He continues to see the world in absolutes; he simply changes his mind about who his enemies are, and does this only when faced with proof that they were working against him. The greatest example of this is Damen's attitude towards Laurent, who he starts out believing to be cruel, cold and honourless. When he has time to learn otherwise, he falls in love - but in loving Laurent, all Damen truly does is swing to the other absolute. Laurent becomes a person that he trusts entirely (despite all the times he claims otherwise), a person that he wants to protect and even, in the end, risks everything for. The lesson that it is dangerous to see people in this way is one that Damen never fully learns.

Part of the reason for this is that, for all that he calls himself straightforward, Damen does not really know how to read his own emotions. He is a man who relies on his instincts, who finds it difficult to lie and who wants to be a good man. He often finds that his emotions get the better of him, and his control over them is very limited. He has a quick and ready temper that leads him to act rashly and, more often than not, violently. This is something which Laurent is able to use against him during their early interactions, and something which the Regent uses against him in war, later. His developing feelings for Laurent are something that he does not at first understand, and he finds himself taking risks that he later questions. He is regularly unable to put his head above his heart, and in this way, he is Laurent's direct opposite.

Despite being led by his heart, however, Damen seems to find it difficult to face his own feelings, particularly when they are negative. He is a man who loses his father, his brother, his lover and his freedom all in one night, and the grief of this is not something he finds easy to face. Damen chooses, instead, to force thoughts of that grief out of his mind, and make himself concentrate on his immediate problems instead. The physical and the practical become his coping mechanisms; introspection does not come easily to him, and he prefers to take action rather than lose himself in contemplation. In this, too, he is Laurent's opposite, and it is perhaps because of this that he is only able to face his grief with Laurent's help. For Damen, his emotions are a driving force which he cannot fully understand or control, yet neither can he help wearing his heart on his sleeve. It is for this reason that his friends, his lovers, and his enemies, have a way of knowing Damen better than he knows himself.

POWER:

Damen has no superhuman powers in canon, but does display many characteristics of the barbarian archetype. He is exceptionally strong and large compared to other characters, and seems to go into a kind of battle frenzy during which he fights without really taking in all that he is doing. Because of this I would like to give him a Berserker power in game.

He will enter a Berserker state when he becomes enraged in battle. He will remain in this state until he is able to calm down. Typically this will happen once the battlefield is clear of visible enemies; so long as potential opponents are still in sight, he will be unable to calm down without help. This power would have the following properties and limitations:

• Enhanced Performance: Damen’s strength and durability will be enhanced to superhuman levels. He will gain enough strength to lift vehicles with his bare hands and break through solid concrete walls without injury. Additionally both his adrenaline levels and his stamina will be boosted so that he does not physically tire so long as the Berserker state is in force.


• Physical Invulnerability: Damen’s body will become exceptionally tough, enabling him to resist pain and injuries that would ordinarily disable him. He will also be unaffected by airborne toxins and poisons in this state.


• Feral Mind: His mind will be less rational and intelligent, and more barbaric and animalistic. He will not always recognise friend from foe and will present a danger to his allies. With time and training he will get better at directing himself; but he will never completely retain his full mental capacity in this state.


• There will be a physical backlash from using this power. At first this will make Damen black out. With practice, blacking out will be less likely though he will still need to rest afterwards.


• Though invulnerable to physical damage while his power is active, he will remain vulnerable to psychic and empathy-based powers.


• A strong enough voice may be enough to break through his rage. A voice enhanced by magic, or by something like Charmspeak, would achieve this. An ordinary voice may be able to get through to him where the speaker has a strong emotional connection with Damen.

〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:

[ The video turns on to reveal a large man, who is providing it with a close-up shot of about half of his face, and one strong, muscular shoulder. It's evident that someone is in the room with him, since he's focused on them and not on what he's doing. ]

Is it working? I cannot tell if --

[ Another voice interrupts, directing his attention back to the camera, and then Damen adjusts it so that his whole face is on screen. He is dark-haired and dark-eyed, and his olive-toned skin is well bronzed by sunlight.

He could not look less comfortable with a camera in his hand. His smile is a somewhat awkward attempt at friendliness, but it's obvious this is new to him. It's equally obvious that he's not enjoying himself. Technology has been forced upon him, and he is not a willing recipient. ]

Hello. Imports, my name is Damen. [ His eyes flick away from the camera at that, looking again at his companion. 'Damen', and not 'Damianos'. He's not a King here. It's best to keep things simple. He knows that he must try to fit into this strange world. ] I'm new here. My world is not like this. The...machines you have are unfamiliar to me, and so I ask for your patience.

Are there any among you who fight with the sword? I am looking for a place to train - somewhere safe, where weapons are allowed, and if there are those of you who would test your skill against mine, I would welcome it. I warn you, I'm well trained.

[ And there are few who have ever matched him. That said, he's never known a people so diverse as this one. He's more than a little interested in what they can do. ]

I would also like to know about the powers we have been given. Such things did not exist where I am from. Are there teachers here to guide us in their use?

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:

Test drive threads: Top level, Laurent, Genos.

FINAL NOTES:

Since he will be coming from the end of his canon, Damen will be injured on arrival. He has a stab wound in his abdomen which is serious, though not life threatening. I would like him to get medical treatment on arrival if possible!

His inventory would be as follows:

→ 1 chiton (white, one piece wrapping, like a tunic)
→ 1 pair knee-high sandals
→ 1 heavy sword
→ 1 golden cuff (always worn, requires blacksmith to remove)
→ 1 golden pin, shaped like a lion