Application: The Last Voyages

[dead_boy]

User Name/Nick: Ali-chan

User DW: ad_exia

E-mail/Plurk/Discord/PM/alternate method of contact: antipositional or PM this journal (or Steve's)!

Other Characters Currently In-Game: Steve Rogers (punched_hitler)

Character Name: Nico di Angelo

Series: Percy Jackson & The Olympians (which I take to mean all the books Rick Riordan has written in that universe)

Age (& age justification): 15 – but a very mature 15. Characters in Riordan’s books live in a world where gods, monsters, and magic are real. They are forced to grow up fast and are treated as smart, capable, and resilient enough to handle the utter craziness that life throws at them, from dealing with actual gods and constantly being hunted by monsters from a very young age to undertaking life-threatening quests and putting their lives on the line for their friends, families, and the world at large.

As the demigod son of a human and the Greek god Hades, Nico has experienced an essentially constant flood of fantastical (and sometimes horrific) adventures and events, including two major mythological wars, starting from around the age of 10. He is an experienced warrior and fully understands things on the scale of life and death. Nothing on the Barge will really surprise or overly traumatize him (more than his own canon, at least).

"Nico wasn’t someone I would ever want as an enemy.

He was deceptively quiet. He appeared anemic and frail. He kept himself on the periphery. But Will was right about how much Nico had been through. He had been born in Mussolini’s Italy. He had survived decades in the time-warp reality of the Lotus Casino. He’d emerged in modern times disoriented and culture-shocked, arrived at Camp Half-Blood, and promptly lost his sister Bianca to a dangerous quest. He had wandered the Labyrinth in self-imposed exile, being tortured and brainwashed by a malevolent ghost. He’d overcome everyone’s distrust and emerged from the Battle of Manhattan as a hero. He’d been captured by giants during the rise of Gaia. He’d wandered Tartarus alone and somehow managed to come out alive. And, through it all, he’d struggled with his upbringing as a conservative Catholic Italian male from the 1930s and finally learned to accept himself as a young gay man.

Anyone who could survive all that had more resilience than Stygian iron." — Apollo, The Tower of Nero

From When?: Shortly after the end of The Tower of Nero (and before the beginning of The Sun and the Star), after Apollo regains his godhood and Will and Nico hear Rachel’s newest prophecy.

Warden Justification: Nico is a bit akin to a graduated inmate himself. Children of Hades are often shunned, ignored, or avoided, and some of his earliest years in the books were spent this way, twisting his viewpoint of the world and making him angry, particularly after his sister died. He was never a real villain, but he’s gone through a redemption arc of his own and has become a powerful force for good.

Of course, Nico embodies several qualities of a traditional hero, including selflessness and understanding the importance of working toward (and sacrificing for) a goal that serves the good of all. (For example, he nearly kills himself several times over to bring the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood to try to heal the rift between Greek and Roman demigods.)

But perhaps the most important point for him being a warden is that despite all the trauma in his life (and there has been a lot: Akhlys, the primordial god of misery, literally says there is nothing she can do to make his life any worse), he has consistently demonstrated a kind side that sees others. “I don’t like it when people are overlooked,” is practically his mantra. He notices and talks to the goddess Hestia after she has gone ignored by all the other gods and demigods for years. Every time he visits the Underworld, he makes time to see and talk to Bob the ex-Titan, befriending him when others have forgotten about him. Nico even befriends and helps the Troglodytes, working to understand their culture and find them a new home when theirs is destroyed. These acts of kindness are often pivotal plot points that allow the forces of good to prevail throughout the books.

So: Nico is observant, kind, diplomatic, and empathetic. He knows what it’s like to be hurt, ignored, and shunned. Having gone through his own journey of redemption and self-discovery, he knows firsthand that people can change. He absolutely has the capacity to help someone else change, or at the very least accept that change is possible and that they won’t be alone.

Item: A bronze coin with a stylized Sun on one side and Hades’ Helm of Darkness on the other

Abilities/Powers: For reference, all of Nico's powers are listed out in full detail here (note there are different tabs).

- Nico is a skilled fighter who is faster, stronger, and more durable than an average human of his age and stature. His weapon of choice is a sword of Stygian iron, which he’ll bring with him.

- Nico can sense death: He feels it when people die and can even sense long beforehand when they are dying or are close to death.

- He can also summon, control, and communicate with the dead, both bodies and spirits (including dead raised by someone else). He can reanimate corpses in any state of decay, including humans and animals (even large ones). He can also “release” spirits into the afterlife, essentially putting ghosts to rest.

- Nico can telekinetically control bones to build structures or use as weapons. He can even transform bones into useful items, such as keys.

- Nico can kill people by turning them into ghosts and banishing them to the Underworld. He can also kill by draining the life out of someone and turning them into a skeleton, which he can then control if needed.

- Children of Hades can control and travel through shadows, essentially melting into a shadow in one place and coming out of a shadow in another place. His range is somewhat limited (without help) and this wears him out quickly. He can take people with him, but this ups the difficulty and drain on him exponentially.

- Children of Hades can also control the ground, causing earthquakes, fissures, and jutting rocks. He can even call flames (hellfire, essentially) from these fissures.

- Nico tends to cause the temperature to drop and any food/plants around him to wither/age/die, either unconsciously when he gets particularly upset or as a side effect of exercising his power. He also generally radiates an aura of fear and death. At a low level, this is innate and tends to make people or particularly animals uncomfortable. He can choose to control it and direct it as a weapon.

- He has limited control over his dreams and can sometimes enter the dreams of others. (This would require player permission.)

- Nico can put himself into a coma state called a death trance, though this seems to require pomegranate seeds from Persephone’s garden (so pretty useless on the Barge unless he acquires some).

ADDITIONAL POWERS NOTES: Because some of these do step on game mechanics or other characters’ abilities/autonomy, I’m totally okay with whatever limitations or caveats need to be imposed and plan to have an opt-out/opt-in for the rest. I'm thinking that in general, powers that interfere with the Admiral’s (resurrection of player characters) are probably a no-go, while others might just be out of his purview on the Barge itself, depending on their effects.

For example, while physically aboard the Barge he won’t be able to use earth-related or corpse-calling powers, given that there is no ground to affect and no dead for him to call. He's generally only able to pull up existing corpses from his surroundings, so wouldn't be able to do this without gathering bones or corpses first, such as in ports or during siege events with dead NPCs. I’m also okay eliminating or severely limiting his ability to command a corpse in the case of player characters (this would either require explicit permission and planning, or maybe it's just not possible with player characters because ~Barge magic~ but animals or NPCs might be okay).

As far as shadow travel goes, he’d probably be able to do it on the Barge with relative ease, as it’s not a particularly big ship. I assume he would be limited to public spaces – he wouldn’t be able to access key-locked areas or private cabins (or any other player-inaccessible portion of the ship). I could see him accessing a cabin if he’s on someone’s filter.

Finally, I know we have at least one other necromancer and I’m happy to discuss with you and/or Danii to make sure no one’s stepping on toes! (I know John Gaius sends skeletons running around a lot, for example, and I have no problem if Nico can’t turn around and have them do something for him without explicit permission or just not at all.)

Wardening Strategies and Philosophies: Life on the Barge is weird, but so is Nico’s life in general. He’s not unfamiliar with the concepts of nonhuman beings, forced personality or physical changes, etc. He’ll take events pretty much in stride.

I think he will struggle a bit with being younger than most other Bargizens, but that might actually force him to try to be a bigger part of the warden community earlier than if he were strictly among peers. He’ll want to be seen as competent and while he will still hold himself a bit apart by nature, he will take seriously any duties/jobs as well as being paired with an inmate, temporarily or permanently. I think he’ll be a pretty active warden, trying to draw his inmates out at least a little. That’s not to say he doesn’t understand the benefit of giving someone space, but he also knows how easy it is to wallow when you’re alone. Despite all this, he will wrestle with his long-internalized feelings of being different from and disturbing to others; he will struggle a bit to engage, but I think he can and will ultimately push past it.

As for strengths: Nico is very good at negotiation, absolutely excellent at making people feel seen, and understands firsthand that forgiveness (of yourself and others) is hard but that it is the better road in the end. He’s seen there is light at the end of the tunnel, even when the world seems stacked against you. He has a lot he can teach someone about what it takes to accept yourself and figure out who you are. Moreover, he will be keen to make sure others don’t feel alone. He will be a loyal warden who stands by his inmate, possibly even when said inmate is wrong – both a strength and a weakness, depending on the situation.

Nico's biggest flaw is his tendency to hold a serious grudge. He knows this and will maybe even try to avoid it, but it’s in his nature and will probably pop up. And he is young, which could certainly be a weakness; he will obviously be best long-term with someone that won’t disregard him due to age. But he isn’t the type to let disrespect faze him (in this context, at least), and he’s more than capable of dealing with violence and danger, even with limitations on his powers. While he has a lot of worldly (and otherworldly) experience, his age might also mean he falls short when it comes to understanding others’ experiences, even if he’ll do his best. He ultimately has a good heart, if one that still has plenty of room for making dumb mistakes (with the best intentions).

Nico will be best for an inmate who feels like he did: shunned, overlooked, ignored, and unfairly hurt by the world. He’d be very good at dealing with someone who holds a lot of anger and may not think they’re at fault for what’s happened to them. That being said, I think it could be interesting to challenge him with someone very different. It might push him to open up more – a process he’s started, but is still very new and tentative.

He won’t be great for an older inmate who feels they need an equal to relate to, and someone he perceives as genuinely evil might be difficult and slow going with, though not impossible. Someone manipulative might trigger old trauma in him and I think he would have a pretty poor time of that. (This could be fun to play with, though, so I’m not ruling it out!)

Deal: To find and, if necessary, save Bob the Titan without having to go back to Tartarus to do it.

History: Here, up to and including The Tower of Nero (you’ll need to hit “Expand” for the synopsis of that book).

Sample Network Entry: [The video feed fumbles on clumsily. This is both because Nico is still not entirely a natural at filming himself, and also because his other hand is currently holding the blackest sword you’ve ever seen, parrying and slashing at… are those tentacles?]

This better be on — okay, does anybody know why there’s a giant… octopus thing trying to invade the common room on deck 5? Because it’s not my fault, and if it’s your fault and you don’t want this thing dead, you might want to say something in the next five minutes —

[His words get cut off as he yelps when a giant tentacle comes flying into view. His sword arm moves and the blade slashes the thing clean off. He mutters something to himself; if your hearing is good, you might catch the words better not be and hydra. Also possibly Percy and when you need him.]

Right, now it’s, uh, a heptapus? Heptopus? So yeah, if you’re missing a giant heptopus thing, please come and get it because it’s really unhappy and kind of gross —

[Another tentacle, another parry and slash, and the feed fumbles off. About ten minutes later, it comes back on. Nico is no longer fighting, but there is a giant, motionless lump in the background and he’s covered in something that’s probably giant space octopus blood.]

So yeah, that’s dealt with. No idea where it came from, or what it’s doing down here — but I guess maybe keep an eye out for other sea monsters? [He makes a face.] Does the Barge get infestations?

[He shakes his head, runs a hand through his hair — then clearly regrets it as he pulls it away and it comes back wet.] Either way, somebody on custodial might want to come down here. And if there aren’t any more of those things right now, I’m gonna take a shower.

Sample RP: Here! (If that's not sufficient, just let me know and I can provide a different sample!)

Special Notes: Nothing past all the powers notes above - again, happy to hash out any limitations, etc., we might need to impose for game or player reasons!