(no subject)

[notthatclifford]

PLAYER

Name: Tracey
Age: 32
Contact: gottageekout#7452 on discord and PMs!
Other Characters: None.
Interests: I like a little bit of everything when it comes to all things RP. I've been actively doing panfandom games since I was around 18 years old, and while I took a break from it when I got into D&D, I pretty quickly started to miss it again. I do love building relationships, but there's a reason why I picked a character with an ability - I love playing with stuff like that too, having them train to be better, having them use their skills when they need to. As long as I have good writing partners to bounce off of, I'm happy, and this game looks like it's got that in spades.

CHARACTER

Name: Clifford Norman
Canon/OC: Wilde Life
Canon Point: Oklahoma, 2015
Journal: notthatclifford
Age: 16

Canon World

There’s two very different sides to Podunk, Oklahoma. By all accounts, the one most people see mirrors the very name of the town – it’s a podunk sort of place, insignificant in every way. Everyone knows their neighbors and the things people can do for entertainment can probably be counted on two hands. This is not a place on anyone’s map to stop in except for gas, and it’s comprised of a mostly working-class population of families.

Then there’s what makes Podunk special.

Just in the background of this world is elements beyond the imagination. Magic exists and so do a whole lot of things people assume don’t – ghosts, urban legends, and so-called mythical monsters to name a few. This magic is shielded carefully from the public by a particular witch that has made a pact to be a guardian of it all, tasked to keep the balance. Those witches and the animal people, in fact, make up the most prominent groups of people in this world.

Only a little has been explained of the witches so far, though with some context clues, it appears that the most powerful of them make pacts to protect particular magical hotspots. Because of this, they appear scattered and territorial for the most part, with territory rights being invoked when one encroaches on another. The witch of Cliff’s canon, Eliza, a witch of summer, showcases magic not unlike a Keeper, using the forest the great bear spirit (who has enough clout to seem to be somewhat godlike in nature) resides in to keep things under control and away from the normal population. Not all witches are as benevolent, however, and they seem to be the direct cause of the slow crawl to extinction of the second important group.

The animal people are what it sounds like – people whose bloodlines allow them the ability to shift into an animal – not a humanoid animal, but a normal one. They come across as normal humans until they do so, with one exception – they have wild eyes. Look close enough and you realize something isn’t quite right and they seem more animal-like than human, though they’re human enough to pass most glances easily. The population of these bloodlines have been declining in recent years, and though Eliza has been cagey about this, it appears at least partially due to witches using them as practically sideshow creatures. Other reasons likely exist, but it all comes down to their numbers becoming so low, the bloodlines seem to be desperately trying to bolster their ranks by any means possible, even if it involves forcing the person to go along with it.

These two groups seem to be at odds with each other now, and whether or not that can come to a head in this canon’s world remains to be seen. It says a lot, though, that Eliza regards Cliff, an animal person, as a monster when she first meets him.

History

-16 years old. Born to an unknown father (presumed to be a wolf animal shifter) and his mother, Nora.

-Father leaves soon after birth, leaving him with no information about his heritage.

-Shifts into a wolf for the first time at a young (but undisclosed) age. Fearing what others would say, he hides this from his family and tries to deal with it himself. His mother never brings it up, and he assumes she has no idea about it.

-His mother remarries a man who has a very authoritative bent to him, furthering the rift between him and his family. He becomes known as a troublemaker and seems to have just embraced what they assume of him.

-A pack of wolf animal people come to town, looking to bring him into the fold. This is the first time Cliff has ever met people like him. When he refuses, they attack him, and Cliff ends up escaping, ultimately collapsing at the doorstep of Oscar Wilde’s home due to exhaustion.

-Oscar brings him in, thinking him to be an injured animal, only to find he reverted to his human form by the morning. He becomes the first person to know Cliff’s secret.

-The white-faced bear, some sort of god or forest spirit, seems to take an interest in Cliff. He runs the shifters harassing Cliff off, though only Oscar witnesses this.

-More weird events start to happen as Cliff and Oscar start hanging out more together. The shared secret seems to grow a brotherly bond between them, though Cliff would never admit it.

-On one outing, Podunk’s witch, Eliza, notices Cliff for the first time. It sends up all kinds of alarms for her, and she decides to try to get close to Oscar, who she noticed was with Cliff.

-Oscar brings Cliff along without asking. This triggers her protections, and the two are attacked. This only stops at the command of the white-faced bear.

-Eliza explains to Cliff about animal people, which is he one of. She is shocked he doesn’t know already and is clearly dismayed that the white-faced bear seems to be protecting Cliff without telling her why.

-Inviting them to dinner soon after, Eliza begins to reveal to them both some of the magic of the forest. They are interrupted by a rougarou, which Eliza takes off after, knowing the danger it poses. Cliff ends up protecting Oscar from another one that appears, killing a monster for the first time as a wolf. Everyone survives.

-Cliff has a fight with his family. He runs off and encounters the source of the rougarous, a witch named Zulime. She tricks him into giving him his name, then uses a spell to brainwash him into compliance. He’s made to be part of her circus. Eliza and Oscar rescue him, and Eliza finds out Cliff is marked and someone wants to “get him back”. Zulime flees soon after.

-Cliff’s family life continues to deteriorate as Nora’s husband pushes for military school.

Personality

Cliff’s personality has, by all accounts, been shaped by this secret he has kept for so long.

Being a teenager can be bad enough. Add the fact that he has this secret hanging over him, a secret that could very well put him into a lab somewhere if he were found out, and you have a recipe for disaster. Distance seems to be the name of the game with Cliff. He keeps everyone who doesn’t know at arm’s reach, and the longer that goes on, the more bitter he seems to be about it. It’s given him a sort of attitude that people would label trouble. Instead of fighting against it, Cliff has seemingly decided to embrace it, because as it turns out, being an asshole is a really good way of keeping people from getting too close. To many, he’s foul-tempered and aggressive at times, but a lot of it is his way of coping. Better to be angry than stew on the fact he’s scared and desperately lonely, after all.

But he is both things. For a long time, he was on his own, and that colored everything about him. It’s doubtful he even knew how much it affected him until he suddenly wasn’t and he gained someone who knew and he could trust. Sure, that didn’t turn off the surly teenager side of him, but it’s truly amazing how much one can blossom when they can be themselves. He’s exhibited a lot of traits someone like his asshole step-dad would never expect from him, like a deep loyalty to the people he trusts. It’s gotten to the point he has literally put himself in danger to protect them, even the ones he might not entirely get along with yet. With the weight of everything off him, he also allows himself to care, even though his attempts at dealing with his own emotions and the emotions of others often leads to him clearly feeling awkward and embarrassed. The real bottom line is he tries, he tries to be a good person with these people. He falls on his face trying a lot, and there’s times where frustration leads to him to be a jerk, but he tries, because he knows if he pushes them away too much, he’ll be alone again.

And he doesn’t want to be alone. He doesn’t want to be considered a monster. Some parts of him seems to feel like he might be, the parts that make him keep quiet as his mother begs him to let her in, to talk to her. He honestly seems to have a sort of love-hate relationship with what he can do, because when he can simply be himself, it seems like he enjoys the freedom being able to shift brings. When he’s around people who don’t know, who he hides everything from, the ability is like a chain he can’t break, one that keeps him forever apart. Self-preservation, as it turns out, can be depressingly isolating.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

Wolf shapeshifting: Cliff is an animal person, something akin to werewolves, though he has gained this ability through bloodline, not getting bit. The wolves in his canon all turn into actual wolves and can shift at any point they want in a blink of an eye. When he shifts, he maintains his clothing when he returns to human form. His personal wolf form makes him look like a red wolf. He has superior strength in this form and obviously has any ability a wolf might have (mainly, fighting abilities using teeth and claws).

Superior hearing and smell: He has exhibited the ability to scent out someone from a distance, especially when it’s a person he’s familiar with. This is an ability he can do whether he’s a wolf or not, though he’s likely a little better at this when he’s a wolf.

Fledgling Battle Prowess: Though he has never used weapons, he has been in multiple fistfights at this point, and it’s started him down a path of learning how to dodge and weave to protect himself.

Weaknesses

Inexperience: While Cliff has this amazing ability to turn into a wolf at any time, he also has almost no experience in doing much more than being a wolf and running as one. While he’s shown fighting and defeating a monster at one point and clearly has natural instincts, he is going to absolutely need training to effectively be helpful in a combat situation. This also goes for battles in general – he needs guidance, and a lot of it.

“The Madness”: Under no circumstance can Cliff bite and ingest blood of other humans. Though this isn’t explained in detail yet in canon, it can be presumed that if Cliff ingests enough human blood, he may lose his own humanity all together, leaving him a basic rabid wolf that needs to be put down. This means that he cannot use his ability against anyone who hasn’t turned into a demon or a monster and will have to find other means of defending himself.

Stubbornness: He tends to be a shithead, which will be a thing that needs to basically be worked out of him by anyone who decides to legitimately try to guide him.

Suggested Nerfs

I think the only thing that’d be concerning to you guys is his wolf ability. However, I feel like Cliff’s canon nerfs him a lot to begin with. The Madness basically means I cannot just have him shift and scare off any random punk that tries to pick a fight with him, which means beyond just learning how to be a good battle wolf (hah), he’s also going to need to learn an actual weapon or he’s basically screwed the first time he’s cornered by a group of thugs. I would be happy to put in some length of time before he must change back or maybe attach changing back to his exhaustion level (too hurt = forced to be human again?) if the Madness doesn’t suffice in terms of nerfing him.

Arrival Inventory

1 red hoodie

1 pair of white sneakers

1 pair of white socks

1 pair of blue jeans

1 t-shirt (camouflage pattern)

1 cell phone

1 wallet (20 dollar bill, learners permit ID)

8 random, colorful plastic bracelets

'Human'ization

Cliff would be human, through and through, as he’s human in his canon, albeit one that can turn into an animal (this is all intents and purposes a werewolf we’re talking about, though It’s inherited, not forced upon him). Even his form can work in the setting, considering the rare shapeshifting mage here and there.

Fit

I feel like in all versions of Clifford Norman, the boy needs some guidance. He’s getting it slowly in his canon, but it hit me how utterly interesting it’d be to play a shifter character in the Dragon Age setting, especially one that isn’t really how normal werewolves are (he isn’t even cursed – this is literally just a bloodline thing!). I’d love to see how mages react to it, especially knowing he won’t have any magic that doesn’t involve the shard in his hand. I also just feel like he’s the kind of guy who legitimately wouldn’t absolutely hate being sent to a world that was less technologically advanced. He’s at a point where he’s staring at a future and seeing a dead end. In a place like Thedas, he has a skill set that can be honed and adventure I wholly imagine he’d end up enjoying. This isn’t a kid who hides in his room, this also is a kid who has, at the time of his canon departure, faced down monsters and bravely protected someone he cared about.

He’s a perfect candidate for the kind of stuff that can be thrown at him in this setting and moreover, I would love to see the kind of relationships he’d form in game when he’s in a world full of people that can do pretty fantastic things.

SAMPLES

Sample 1: Meme log

For the better part of the last half of a year, he'd been having to adjust to the new shit he'd learned since being found on the doorstep of Oscar's house. Witches, ghosts, giant....whatevers, all of it. But he'd been managing because there'd been some semblance of normalcy, and he realized now that that was what had kept him sane through it all. This place? This place was his home on crack, where there was no facade of normal, just...

This. All out in the open. It was a lot.

And they knew. They knew about what he could do, and he was pretty sure they were considering him something that could be helpful, maybe, to their cause, but the warnings from Eliza of 'do not bite humans' echoed in his head. If he was to do whatever the hell they were going to ask of him, he knew he needed to figure out more than just shifting into a wolf to be helpful, since it sounded like they were dealing with more than just monsters he could sink his teeth into. Cliff wasn't big on cooperation, but he also wasn't big on getting thrown out on his ass and left to fend for himself.

Sample 2: A thread resulting from that log.

Cliff was still very not used to actually being the center of attention while he was a wolf. He'd sort of gotten used to Oscar, but Oscar had long since stopped gawking. He never got used to Darcy, who squealed and tried to pet him every time he switched over in front of her. But all these new people, even though he knew people knew about this shit?

Yeah, it made him uneasy. He huffed out a breath at the question, which sounded awful like a dog version of a sigh. At least this guy wasn't being like Darcy.


"It's not really better or worse. Not when I'm walking," he replied, trotting along at an easy pace. "Running is a different story. But right now I'm just making sure we don't get jumped by who knows what the hell is out here so I don't need to worry about everyone keeping up with me."

It was only then he glanced over, just to shoot him a look that was legitimately could be called a wolfish smirk. Just because it was weird as hell being asked questions didn't mean he wouldn't brag.