application. mask or menace.
〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Brooklyn
AGE: 28
JOURNAL:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
glaswen
IM / EMAIL: neverrryourmask @ gmail
PLURK:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
neveryourmask
RETURNING: Negative.
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Gabriel Gray / Sylar
CHARACTER AGE: 30
SERIES: Heroes
CHRONOLOGY: Season 3, episode 13.
CLASS: Villain
HOUSING: Alone is probably best!
BACKGROUND: Heroes takes place in a contemporary world much like our own, save for the development of superhuman abilities, the occasional alterations to time and space thanks to said superhuman abilities, and the minor institutions that have risen up to counter superhuman abilities. More science fiction than fantasy, there still exists a little bit of inherent mysticism in that solar eclipses seem to negate powers.
People with abilities are generally identified as 'evolved humans' or, more derogatorily, 'specials'. They are born with a predisposition towards a genetic mutation, or have been artificially altered on a genetic level. Until the very end of the series, evolved humans as a phenomenon was clandestine knowledge on any official platform, and thus lack in public support for the specific discrimination they face at the hands of "capture and release" organisations such as something only known as The Company. Hunted or hiding, most evolved humans have to fend for themselves.
Gabriel Gray's involvement in the main plot begins when he's approached by scientist Chandra Suresh, an independent researcher unlocking the mysteries of mutant human ability. Through the use of an algorithm that generated a list of evolved humans, Suresh was able to track Gabriel down, and for a time, they worked together, with Gabriel as a willing participant in non-invasive experimentation, keen for the idea of being an exceptional person. Unfortunately, Suresh wasn't able to detect the nature of Gabriel's ability, which was too passive for notice, and this triggered the beginning of the path that would lead to Gabriel becoming an infamous serial killer under the moniker of Sylar.
And the rest is history. Sylar will be extracted from canon at the end of season three, episode thirteen, when he is (temporarily) killed with a shard of glass to the head.
PERSONALITY:
Gabriel Gray's complicated relationship with identity acts as a centre point to the fractured nature of his character and his driving motivations. We're initially introduced to a man who appears socially isolated and resigned to an ordinary existence, with an ordinary past, while obviously being dissatisfied with it. He expresses to Chandra Suresh, upon being enlightened to the fact he could be genetically special, that he had always wished that his family was not really his family, that his origins are rooted in more exceptional circumstance than the ordinariness of his current existence and upbringing. When this hope was temporarily taken away from him, Gabriel's anger was proportionate to exactly how important re-conceptualising himself had become. His adoption of his villainous moniker and rejection of his own name, and his absorption of more and more abilities, fundamentally altering himself on a genetic level, all have basis in this anxiety.
There are a lot of reasons for this particular neurotic obsession, some of them Sylar is aware of, and some of them are more subconscious. As a very young child, he was sold by his biological father, Samson, to his uncle, before Samson then murdered Sylar's biological mother, an event he does not remember but did witness, and these memories are still lodged in his mind, ready for recollection. This was hidden from him, but possibly had a subconscious destabilising effect on his sense of identity, fueling his wishes to be someone else, along with the isolating effect of having a passive superhuman ability going unnoticed but frequently activated. Other circumstances include the fact that his adoptive father left his wife and son very suddenly when Gabriel was a child, and Gabriel's taking up of his trade seems like an attempt to win approval of a man who is no longer in his life. On the other hand, his mother loved him obsessively but possessed a strange disconnect between loving the idea of a son vs loving Gabriel for who he was. She exhibits deluded and manic qualities, pointing to a likely very tumultuous childhood, and reinforces her disconnect by repeatedly trying to push Gabriel to do more with his life (and not in constructive ways, but wishful thinking ways), while simultaneously keeping him isolated.
While the above events are fairly sympathetic and have a profound influence on who Sylar is as a person, it should be said that they don't objectively forgive Sylar's actions. His sense of personal tragedy totally eclipses any awareness he might have for the tragedies he creates every time he hurts or kills another person, and he seems predisposed towards violent outbursts even before the nature of his ability started corrupting his sanity. He is entitled and wholly selfish, and views himself as a main character surrounded by supporting sidekicks, enemies, or audience members. His delusions of grandeur are self-important and often destructive, while simultaneously being insecure and fragile, willing to spill blood just to prove to himself that he is exceptional.
He is also fairly easy to manipulate, given the manipulator has sufficient power to do so. Angela Petrelli preyed on his issues of identity and family while Sylar was in a vulnerable state and at least temporarily forged for herself a dangerous tool that would be loyal to her. Other likewise powerful people could easily sway or control Sylar by preying on the things that make him tick, whether that's a sense of destiny, importance, or belonging, but definitely at their own risk. While driven by emotion, Sylar also possesses a highly analytical ability that gives him an analytical mind, one that is practiced at coming to his own conclusions, and will bite back (and bite back hard) when he senses the possibility of betrayal.
The events in season three demonstrate both a capacity for growth and the ability to backslide. Although Sylar inevitably turns to his old ways, he undergoes a period of time that at least appears to be an attempt at change in order to find a purpose for himself that doesn't wind up with being locked in a glass box for the rest of his life. This purpose is seeded in manipulation and lies about his parentage, but seems to unlock a willingness in Sylar to at least explore concepts of mercy, teamwork, and even love, if mostly in a 'what else do I want besides the accumulation of power' kind of way. He learns that he can utilise empathy in place of analytical study, and toys with notions of heroism. It's the unravelling of lies that inevitably have Sylar regress back to predator and murderer, this time motivated by revenge, and more interested in manipulation and dominance than single-minded massacre.
When it comes to surface interaction, there are two sides to the same coin. Sylar can, in his own way, come across as smooth, controlled, and predatory. When he is being himself (or... being who he attributes to being Sylar), there is a sense of playfulness in the way a cat will play with a mouse. He pokes and prods at weaknesses, exploits the fear he can create in people through shows of power or reputation, and is articulate and certain, and occasionally witty. He demonstrates a real sadism in the way he can interact with others. On the other side, there is who he was before he "became" Sylar -- polite, kind, shy, and a little awkward. Both of these aspects, however, have some things in common, such as a quick temper, a selfish/self-interested streak, and a sort of second-hand embarrassment inducing tendency to be a bit precious about insult or the perception thereof. While both sides may seem to contradict one another, they are in fact simulatenously true, with the Gabriel aspect and the capacity for guilt lying dormant and unwanted beneath the icy, somewhat fragile veneer of his Sylarisms.
POWER:
INTUITIVE APTITUDE: This describes the power to understand how things work, at its most basic. This power was extensively applied to Gabriel Gray's career as a watchmaker and repairman, but seems to apply to a range of other complex systems, from machinery to the human mind. It also comes with an insatiable need to understand, what Sylar describes as a hunger, which is in a large way responsible for the many murders committed at Sylar's hand when the drive to crack open skulls and understand what goes on inside of them makes him particularly single-minded.
This power has also permitted him to be able to alter his own genetics to replicate abilities, most of the time requiring visible access to the human mind of the victim whose powers he's copying, and rarer still, he can mimic superhuman ability through an empathic connection by understanding someone emotionally. (Hard for him, what with being a self-described psychopathic killer.)
Limitations: Due to the power cap of only having three powers, I'd like to propose that Sylar is only able to acquire abilities by (unintentionally, at first) replacing one of his current powers with whatever newly acquired power he tries to replicate. All shifts like this would be dependent on mod approval beforehand (both for the power change and the death), and would likely be infrequent due to needing PCs who OOCly volunteer to die, and obviously all powers accessible to Sylar are pre-approved ones. Other restrictions could be that the new power degrades after a certain amount of time. However, if the mods are uncomfortable with keeping this aspect, I can nix the ability to replicate powers altogether! My main driving motivation is to open up plot possibilities rather than be super good at things, but I can do so without too.
SUPERHUMAN HEARING: This is what it sounds like on the tin, and is a canon ability that Sylar acquired early on. Common applications include being able to detect the pace of another person's heart, indicating whether they are scared, angry, or lying (that last one being an inexact science, obviously). He can hear conversations from down the street or in a room four doors down, the crawl of termites in old floorboards or a bird taking flight in the middle of a noisy street carnival. However, this power is also always on. While Sylar has adapted to handling such a massive amount of auditory input, and would probably feel at a profound disadvantange were it taken away, it can and has been exploited as a weakness. Firing a gun next to his head would be temporarily incapacitating, and he can be tortured with a tuning fork.
ELECTRIC MANIPULATION: Another ability that Sylar acquired in canon, but through his empathic ability. As well as being able to generate massive amounts of energy, he can also aim it, disrupt power systems, or start a rave in a dark room. He can electrocute people until death, or output just enough to raise the hairs on someone's arm. With focus, he can also utilise electricity more constructively by acting as a generator for machinery that are designed to take such raw input. This also grants him immunity to electrical damage.
〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
Curious.
[ Sylar's voice has a slippery quality to it, snaking beneath how wind and distant traffic puts busy white noise in the microphone of his device. ]
These tattoos. These brandings. Rife with benefits -- freedom to move, freedom to experience an acceptable standard of living. Freedom to work, to earn, to serve your country. This really is America, isn't it? Of course, that all depends on what it says.
[ A truck growls by, loud, and Sylar lets it pass before he continues. ]
We almost had something like this in my world, too. A registry, for people who were special. Capture and release, back into the wild. Like tagging tigers, to see what they do, how they behave. If they behave.
Let's poll the audience. Is this jungle very different to the one you came from?
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:
Two mutants walk into a bar. (Note: this started before I decided to do away with his telekinesis.)
FINAL NOTES: Just to comment on his villainy, Sylar is obviously a fairly volatile, dangerously anti-social kind of guy, but I don't intend to hit the ground running with murder sprees, and have read up on your rules/requirements around character death, property damage, etc, which will most certainly come up, given givens. But upon getting a grip on where he is, I think Sylar will exercise restraint and caution upon being placed in a world where superhuman ability is publicly known and institutionalised with way more oversight than it was in his canon, and the canon point I'm taking him from is at a kind of a crossroads which should allow for some socialisation and participation.
I'll also throw up a permissions post in case anyone wishes to avoid this loser.
NAME: Brooklyn
AGE: 28
JOURNAL:
glaswenIM / EMAIL: neverrryourmask @ gmail
PLURK:
RETURNING: Negative.
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Gabriel Gray / Sylar
CHARACTER AGE: 30
SERIES: Heroes
CHRONOLOGY: Season 3, episode 13.
CLASS: Villain
HOUSING: Alone is probably best!
BACKGROUND: Heroes takes place in a contemporary world much like our own, save for the development of superhuman abilities, the occasional alterations to time and space thanks to said superhuman abilities, and the minor institutions that have risen up to counter superhuman abilities. More science fiction than fantasy, there still exists a little bit of inherent mysticism in that solar eclipses seem to negate powers.
People with abilities are generally identified as 'evolved humans' or, more derogatorily, 'specials'. They are born with a predisposition towards a genetic mutation, or have been artificially altered on a genetic level. Until the very end of the series, evolved humans as a phenomenon was clandestine knowledge on any official platform, and thus lack in public support for the specific discrimination they face at the hands of "capture and release" organisations such as something only known as The Company. Hunted or hiding, most evolved humans have to fend for themselves.
Gabriel Gray's involvement in the main plot begins when he's approached by scientist Chandra Suresh, an independent researcher unlocking the mysteries of mutant human ability. Through the use of an algorithm that generated a list of evolved humans, Suresh was able to track Gabriel down, and for a time, they worked together, with Gabriel as a willing participant in non-invasive experimentation, keen for the idea of being an exceptional person. Unfortunately, Suresh wasn't able to detect the nature of Gabriel's ability, which was too passive for notice, and this triggered the beginning of the path that would lead to Gabriel becoming an infamous serial killer under the moniker of Sylar.
And the rest is history. Sylar will be extracted from canon at the end of season three, episode thirteen, when he is (temporarily) killed with a shard of glass to the head.
PERSONALITY:
Gabriel Gray's complicated relationship with identity acts as a centre point to the fractured nature of his character and his driving motivations. We're initially introduced to a man who appears socially isolated and resigned to an ordinary existence, with an ordinary past, while obviously being dissatisfied with it. He expresses to Chandra Suresh, upon being enlightened to the fact he could be genetically special, that he had always wished that his family was not really his family, that his origins are rooted in more exceptional circumstance than the ordinariness of his current existence and upbringing. When this hope was temporarily taken away from him, Gabriel's anger was proportionate to exactly how important re-conceptualising himself had become. His adoption of his villainous moniker and rejection of his own name, and his absorption of more and more abilities, fundamentally altering himself on a genetic level, all have basis in this anxiety.
There are a lot of reasons for this particular neurotic obsession, some of them Sylar is aware of, and some of them are more subconscious. As a very young child, he was sold by his biological father, Samson, to his uncle, before Samson then murdered Sylar's biological mother, an event he does not remember but did witness, and these memories are still lodged in his mind, ready for recollection. This was hidden from him, but possibly had a subconscious destabilising effect on his sense of identity, fueling his wishes to be someone else, along with the isolating effect of having a passive superhuman ability going unnoticed but frequently activated. Other circumstances include the fact that his adoptive father left his wife and son very suddenly when Gabriel was a child, and Gabriel's taking up of his trade seems like an attempt to win approval of a man who is no longer in his life. On the other hand, his mother loved him obsessively but possessed a strange disconnect between loving the idea of a son vs loving Gabriel for who he was. She exhibits deluded and manic qualities, pointing to a likely very tumultuous childhood, and reinforces her disconnect by repeatedly trying to push Gabriel to do more with his life (and not in constructive ways, but wishful thinking ways), while simultaneously keeping him isolated.
While the above events are fairly sympathetic and have a profound influence on who Sylar is as a person, it should be said that they don't objectively forgive Sylar's actions. His sense of personal tragedy totally eclipses any awareness he might have for the tragedies he creates every time he hurts or kills another person, and he seems predisposed towards violent outbursts even before the nature of his ability started corrupting his sanity. He is entitled and wholly selfish, and views himself as a main character surrounded by supporting sidekicks, enemies, or audience members. His delusions of grandeur are self-important and often destructive, while simultaneously being insecure and fragile, willing to spill blood just to prove to himself that he is exceptional.
He is also fairly easy to manipulate, given the manipulator has sufficient power to do so. Angela Petrelli preyed on his issues of identity and family while Sylar was in a vulnerable state and at least temporarily forged for herself a dangerous tool that would be loyal to her. Other likewise powerful people could easily sway or control Sylar by preying on the things that make him tick, whether that's a sense of destiny, importance, or belonging, but definitely at their own risk. While driven by emotion, Sylar also possesses a highly analytical ability that gives him an analytical mind, one that is practiced at coming to his own conclusions, and will bite back (and bite back hard) when he senses the possibility of betrayal.
The events in season three demonstrate both a capacity for growth and the ability to backslide. Although Sylar inevitably turns to his old ways, he undergoes a period of time that at least appears to be an attempt at change in order to find a purpose for himself that doesn't wind up with being locked in a glass box for the rest of his life. This purpose is seeded in manipulation and lies about his parentage, but seems to unlock a willingness in Sylar to at least explore concepts of mercy, teamwork, and even love, if mostly in a 'what else do I want besides the accumulation of power' kind of way. He learns that he can utilise empathy in place of analytical study, and toys with notions of heroism. It's the unravelling of lies that inevitably have Sylar regress back to predator and murderer, this time motivated by revenge, and more interested in manipulation and dominance than single-minded massacre.
When it comes to surface interaction, there are two sides to the same coin. Sylar can, in his own way, come across as smooth, controlled, and predatory. When he is being himself (or... being who he attributes to being Sylar), there is a sense of playfulness in the way a cat will play with a mouse. He pokes and prods at weaknesses, exploits the fear he can create in people through shows of power or reputation, and is articulate and certain, and occasionally witty. He demonstrates a real sadism in the way he can interact with others. On the other side, there is who he was before he "became" Sylar -- polite, kind, shy, and a little awkward. Both of these aspects, however, have some things in common, such as a quick temper, a selfish/self-interested streak, and a sort of second-hand embarrassment inducing tendency to be a bit precious about insult or the perception thereof. While both sides may seem to contradict one another, they are in fact simulatenously true, with the Gabriel aspect and the capacity for guilt lying dormant and unwanted beneath the icy, somewhat fragile veneer of his Sylarisms.
POWER:
INTUITIVE APTITUDE: This describes the power to understand how things work, at its most basic. This power was extensively applied to Gabriel Gray's career as a watchmaker and repairman, but seems to apply to a range of other complex systems, from machinery to the human mind. It also comes with an insatiable need to understand, what Sylar describes as a hunger, which is in a large way responsible for the many murders committed at Sylar's hand when the drive to crack open skulls and understand what goes on inside of them makes him particularly single-minded.
This power has also permitted him to be able to alter his own genetics to replicate abilities, most of the time requiring visible access to the human mind of the victim whose powers he's copying, and rarer still, he can mimic superhuman ability through an empathic connection by understanding someone emotionally. (Hard for him, what with being a self-described psychopathic killer.)
Limitations: Due to the power cap of only having three powers, I'd like to propose that Sylar is only able to acquire abilities by (unintentionally, at first) replacing one of his current powers with whatever newly acquired power he tries to replicate. All shifts like this would be dependent on mod approval beforehand (both for the power change and the death), and would likely be infrequent due to needing PCs who OOCly volunteer to die, and obviously all powers accessible to Sylar are pre-approved ones. Other restrictions could be that the new power degrades after a certain amount of time. However, if the mods are uncomfortable with keeping this aspect, I can nix the ability to replicate powers altogether! My main driving motivation is to open up plot possibilities rather than be super good at things, but I can do so without too.
SUPERHUMAN HEARING: This is what it sounds like on the tin, and is a canon ability that Sylar acquired early on. Common applications include being able to detect the pace of another person's heart, indicating whether they are scared, angry, or lying (that last one being an inexact science, obviously). He can hear conversations from down the street or in a room four doors down, the crawl of termites in old floorboards or a bird taking flight in the middle of a noisy street carnival. However, this power is also always on. While Sylar has adapted to handling such a massive amount of auditory input, and would probably feel at a profound disadvantange were it taken away, it can and has been exploited as a weakness. Firing a gun next to his head would be temporarily incapacitating, and he can be tortured with a tuning fork.
ELECTRIC MANIPULATION: Another ability that Sylar acquired in canon, but through his empathic ability. As well as being able to generate massive amounts of energy, he can also aim it, disrupt power systems, or start a rave in a dark room. He can electrocute people until death, or output just enough to raise the hairs on someone's arm. With focus, he can also utilise electricity more constructively by acting as a generator for machinery that are designed to take such raw input. This also grants him immunity to electrical damage.
〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
Curious.
[ Sylar's voice has a slippery quality to it, snaking beneath how wind and distant traffic puts busy white noise in the microphone of his device. ]
These tattoos. These brandings. Rife with benefits -- freedom to move, freedom to experience an acceptable standard of living. Freedom to work, to earn, to serve your country. This really is America, isn't it? Of course, that all depends on what it says.
[ A truck growls by, loud, and Sylar lets it pass before he continues. ]
We almost had something like this in my world, too. A registry, for people who were special. Capture and release, back into the wild. Like tagging tigers, to see what they do, how they behave. If they behave.
Let's poll the audience. Is this jungle very different to the one you came from?
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:
Two mutants walk into a bar. (Note: this started before I decided to do away with his telekinesis.)
FINAL NOTES: Just to comment on his villainy, Sylar is obviously a fairly volatile, dangerously anti-social kind of guy, but I don't intend to hit the ground running with murder sprees, and have read up on your rules/requirements around character death, property damage, etc, which will most certainly come up, given givens. But upon getting a grip on where he is, I think Sylar will exercise restraint and caution upon being placed in a world where superhuman ability is publicly known and institutionalised with way more oversight than it was in his canon, and the canon point I'm taking him from is at a kind of a crossroads which should allow for some socialisation and participation.
I'll also throw up a permissions post in case anyone wishes to avoid this loser.