Fandaniel @curtaincall

in person | tablet (voice/video/text) | dead drop

Player: Psi
Contact: PsiYamaneko | PM
Age: Precambrian
Current Characters: N/A

content warnings for this app: suicidal ideation, suicide, despair, existential horror. It’s all portrayed in fantastical ways but the themes around Fandaniel are pretty dark and could be upsetting if one isn't in the right headspace.

Character Name: Fandaniel (the title of his seat within the Convocation of Fourteen. These titles are often used in place of actual names. His real name is Amon but he is unlikely to use it.)
Character Canon: Final Fantasy XIV
Canon Point: Just after fusing with Zodiark and destroying himself in The Dark Inside.
Age: Roughly 5000. His current vessel is 27.

Crime: Despair

Background: Wiki

Personality:
HATEFUL JESTER


Fandaniel is a theatrical, flamboyant individual. Outwardly he likes to act like a jester, smiling, mocking, speaking in poetic turns of phrase, and dancing as he moves. He is playful, energetic, and expressive. Unlike many of his kind, he is always moving or speaking as he can't sit still and he loves the sound of his own voice. Because of his lively nature, some might mistake him for a fool, but that would be a dangerous mistake. Like any performer, he is skilled at showing only the sides of himself that he wants others to see. Some may find him whimsical, while others may see him as monstrous.

Underneath his playful exterior, he is incredibly sadistic. He views himself as an artist, taking pride in his gruesome creations, which vary from colossal machines designed to enslave gods to twisted creatures that were once human. He has no respect for the sanctity of life and is willing to kill, injure, or mutilate others to satisfy his relentless curiosity.

He is also extremely intelligent. Since he is weaker than the unsundered Ascians and people like the Warrior of Light, he has learned to rely on his cunning. He uses his theatrics to disorient enemies and victims alike and his more apparent schemes usually obfuscate his real agenda. He is the sort of person to devise contingency plans for his contingency plans.

DESPAIRING SOUL


When Fandaniel drops the theatrics, he is cold and detached, unable to express any emotion other than contempt. Centuries of despair have stripped his heart of anything other than rage, pain, and hate.

While he rarely shows his despair, it has always driven most of his actions. He was born as Amon in the empire of Allag, a hedonistic society where people enjoyed watching the suffering of others for their pleasure. With this as his culture, he had little chance of cultivating a sense of compassion. Yet he was still sensitive and the state of his people troubled him. He decided that Allag needed the guidance of a strong leader and, after many years of experimentation, he resurrected the nation's first emperor, Xande, who led them on a campaign of conquest. Xande, however, was nihilistic after experiencing death and believed life was meaningless in the face of death's finality. In his pain, Xande made a pact with a demonic entity to destroy the world. While the world survived this pact, Allag did not.

Just before the fall of the empire, Amon was approached by Emet-Selch who turned him into an immortal Ascian and elevated him to the Seat of Fandaniel. Upon gaining this position, he also received the memories of a man named Hermes who lived in an ancient time when the Ascians' world was whole. Amon realized that his recurring nightmares had been memories of this first lifetime, imprinted on his soul by Hermes.

While these restored memories were painful, Amon never felt they were a part of him. He never felt like the other Ascians at all. Instead of joining them in their quest to restore the ancient world, he devised a plan of his own. Full of sorrow and rage over the loss of Allag, he resolved to use his Seat to judge mankind. He observed the world for thousands of years to see if life had meaning. After witnessing how cruel mortals were, he decided Xande was right: life was meaningless. All it did was create pain and suffering. Amon vowed he would bring everything to oblivion like Xande wanted and, in doing so, end all suffering in the world. He would dedicate himself to this path even if it meant becoming a monster.


HOPEFUL MONSTER


Fandaniel is not now and has never been a good person. But he is not simply a monster either; he is also a man who is irreparably broken by the weight of his despair. After a long cycle of reincarnation and a long existence of suffering, Fandaniel feels tired. He is ready to die and take everyone else with him. He has made his decision.

And yet, sometimes he hesitates. His partner Zenos observes that when they start to put their plans into action, Fandaniel doesn't seem to enjoy it. After his death, Fandaniel's soul would even lament, wondering if his answer that life is meaningless is the one he was hoping for.

Deep down, he wants to have hope in life again. When he meets people with strong reasons for living he both envies and pities them. But making him reconsider his answer would take dramatic character development. He's had thousands of years to think about it, he acknowledges the atrocity of his actions, he knows he is a great enemy to all living things, and he is comfortable with this. He does not want redemption or forgiveness.

Abilities: Fandaniel is an Ascian, which also makes him a powerful, immortal wizard. Generally, he has access to spiritual, psychic-like powers, shadow magic, and creation magic. This section will explain what an Ascian of his station (sundered member of the Convocation of Fourteen) can do.

The Echo: "The Echo" is the mortal term for an ability that Ascians have possessed since ancient times. It allows the Ascian to transcend the normal limits of a soul and resonate with the souls of other beings. With this power they can read memories by peering into someone's soul as they are remembering something, possess bodies that they can then shapeshift with extreme effort, merge their essences with other Ascians, and understand/be understood by anyone regardless of language barriers. They are also able to teleport themselves across long distances and keep their souls intact. For example, they can teleport themselves into space. When teleporting they normally can bring others with them. In-game Fandaniel will only be able to teleport to places he's already been.

Aetherial Being: As an Ascian, Fandaniel is an aetherial being currently possessing the corpse of a man named Asahi sas Brutus. This possession allows him to directly interact with the physical world which is useful since otherwise he is a shifting soul identifiable only by his Ascian glyph. He does not need to eat or sleep but can do these things for appearances or pleasure. He is ageless, immune to disease and poisons, and highly resilient against magic and most forms of mind control. Normally he can flow his aether into new hosts when cut down but his aether will be bound to the corpse of Asahi in game. (It's be bound to Asahi again at this canon point or show up as a ghost elf or a kaiju.)

Because of his nature, he can project a sense of wrongness towards sensitive people since he never seems like he is entirely there and casts no shadow even when he possesses a body.

Flight: Fandaniel can levitate himself and others high into the air. He is also able to soar and can fly through the sky alongside powerful winged creatures with ease.

Sensory Alteration/Illusions: Many Ascians can create illusions but some are more powerful than others. While Fandaniel has never specifically been shown casting illusions it is likely he has the ability, but his illusions are strictly visual tricks and cannot deal damage. He can also throw his voice and turn invisible.

Umbral Magic: Their connection to the primal Zodiark makes Ascian Umbral magic particularly potent. They can create lances of shadows that stab into people's souls, which has the effect of knocking the victim unconscious or stunning them, opening gravity voids, and slinging shadows around as if shadow were an element.

Creation Magic: All Ascians are gifted in creation magic which allows them to cast elemental spells (wind, ice, fire, lightning, etc), summon monsters, and create creatures and inanimate objects from their aether. Fandaniel, as a sundered Ascian, is less powerful in creation magic than others of his kind but still ostensibly uses the power to create clothing for himself and set pieces for his theatrical antics. Sometimes he creates aetherial shadow chains to temporarily bind someone and drag them around.

Intelligence: Since his life as Amon, Fandaniel has had a genius-level intellect. He created massive, intricate machines, cloning technology, bio-enhancements, and ways to preserve life. As G'raha Tia puts it "If Fandaniel truly is Amon, to create a gate through which a primal may pass will not be beyond him. From what I gather he was utterly brilliant-and utterly mad." To put his brilliance into context, many structures and creatures he designed/created are literal raid bosses. He is very unlikely to make techno-kaiju since for that he'd need an army of assistants, powerful host creatures such as demons, and/or lots of technologically advanced resources but the point is he is fully capable of getting into some complete nonsense.

SUMMARY OF NERFS:

• Fandaniel is more anchored to the corpse of Asahi sas Brutus. Even if he were to flow out of it for some reason he'd have to quickly return. This means he can't avoid death mechanics. Sorry, Fandaniel.


• Teleportation is limited to only places he's already been and he can only bring one other person with him.


• His creation magic isn't nerfed but it is already limited compared to what someone might expect from an Unsundered like Emet-Selch. He can create objects no bigger than furniture and has never been shown creating creatures (his monsters are constructs or science chimeras, and not related to this ability). It's unlikely he can.

Like most Ascians, Fandaniel prefers not to engage in direct combat so he only uses offensive power if cornered or driven into the open. Usually, he teleports, creates objects (mostly clothing) and flies. Anything beyond that is rare.

If he does anything that could affect another character, this will be cleared by the other player. Anything that could affect the plot and world-building will be submitted for mod approval.

Inventory: His clothing, that's it

Samples:
TDM Top Level has multiple sample threads

Bonus sample with more introspection and intense/hostile interaction.

Questions: Nothing at the moment.

Pursuer of Extant Phenomena
And though he inherited that noble soul ...how different, this last incarnation. So consumed by self-loathing and hate.

OOC INFORMATION

Player Name: Psi
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact: PsiYamaneko | PM
Other Characters in Game: Sasarai (harmonian) from Suikoden

IC INFORMATION
Spoilers for Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker. Also lots of suicidal ideation.

Character Name: Fandaniel (actually the title of his seat within the Convocation of Fourteen. These titles are often used in place of actual names)
Canon: Final Fantasy XIV
Canon Point: While merging with Zodiark during Endwalker.
Background: Wiki

Suitability: As an Ascian, Fandaniel is familiar with the concept of multiple worlds and dimensions so suddenly finding himself in a new one won't upset him much. Being interrupted when he is about to achieve his "heart's desire", however, would.

His main ambition at this point in his existence is to die and take the world with him. This could initially make him very hostile to his situation in Abraxas until he learned about the Singularity. Eventually he would likely decide to study the Singularity with the intention of one day destroying it and every dimension it is connected to. To accomplish this he'd play political games, lining himself up behind powerful and ambitious individuals to gain access to their resources and get himself closer to his goal. This is the sort of thing he tends to do. He has, for example, funded both sides of a war to further his ambitions (using the coffers of the man whose corpse he took over).

His villainy tends to work on multiple levels. Due to his chaotic nature he can create moments of mayhem and obstacles that can be overcome in the short term. These shorter term moments of mayhem usually obfuscate his bigger schemes which, in turn, contribute to his master plan. This master plan, destroying the world, would be a slow burn as he maneuvers the people around him into the exact spots he needs them to be.

If he were outed as a fiend early he is good at playing the part of a jester and making himself seem like a relatively harmless sort of scoundrel. If his madness were made openly apparent he knows how to lean into that as well to get what he wants. He is an adaptable performance artist; he can make people see the sides of him he wants them to see.

Fandaniel is also an extremely intelligent and skilled scientist and inventor. In his own world he was in charge of creating technological marvels that ran on magic-like power sources (a science called Aetherochemistry) and was also the creator of advanced cloning technologies. If he were to learn to work with Abraxian resources he could use this talent to contribute to world building.

He would claim his creations are made to benefit the Free Cities, and on the surface this could seem true, but his science is usually done to satisfy his own agendas and curiosity. This means he doesn't care much if people are hurt in his pursuit of answers. His inventions often have intense Lovecraftian and body horror elements to them and could contribute to the more horror-like aspects of the game. Sometimes this might not be immediately apparent unless someone sees how his machines function. In other cases the horror is obvious. In one famous example from his ancient past he tricked a rival court mage into volunteering for an experiment. She feared and hated dogs so she was driven mad when she awoke from the procedure and found that he'd severed her head and legs and replaced them with pieces of ravenous hounds. Brought over to Abraxas this tendency could mean him experimenting on NPCs or player characters, all with plenty of beforehand OOC plotting.

In general he would be a villainous, antagonistic presence, albeit one who is outwardly affable and capable of cooperating with people when he needs to. If he made his big move against the Singularity at any point he would likely be stopped so he may not survive the whole duration of the game. I would not expect him to succeed in toppling the Singularity and all connected dimensions but having this as his end goal would give him plenty of reasons to interact with the setting and the other characters in it.

Powers: Fandaniel is an Ascian which also makes him a powerful, immortal wizard. Generally, he has access to spiritual, psychic-like powers, shadow magic and creation magic. This section will explain what an Ascian of his station (sundered member of the Convocation of Fourteen) can do.

The Echo: "The Echo" is the mortal term for an ability that Ascians have possessed since ancient times. It allows the Ascian to transcend the normal limits of a soul and resonate with the souls of other beings. With this power they can read memories by peering into someone's soul as they are remembering something, possess bodies which they can then shapeshift with extreme effort (though Fandaniel will remain confined to his current host), merge their essences with other Ascians, and understand/be understood by anyone regardless of language barriers. They are also able to teleport themselves across long distances and keep their souls intact. For example, they are able teleport themselves into space. When teleporting they normally are able to bring others with them but Fandaniel will lose this ability in game.

Aetherial Being: As an Ascian, Fandaniel is an aetherial being currently possessing the corpse of a man named Asahi sas Brutus. This possession allows him to directly interact with the physical world which is useful since otherwise he is a shifting soul identifiable only by his Ascian glyph. He does not need to eat, sleep or breathe but can do all of these things for appearances or for pleasure. He is ageless, immune to disease and poisons and highly resilient against magic and most forms of mind control. Normally he is able to flow his aether into new hosts when cut down but his aether will be bound to the corpse of Asahi in game.

Because of his nature he can project a sense of wrongness towards sensitive people since he never seems like he is entirely there even when he is possessing a body. He has no shadow, doesn't leave footprints and can move with complete, preternatural silence.

Flight: Fandaniel can levitate himself and others high into the air. He is also able to soar, and can fly through the sky alongside powerful winged creatures with ease.

Sensory Alteration/Illusions: Many Ascians can create illusions but some are more powerful than others. While Fandaniel has never specifically been shown casting illusions it is likely he has the ability, but that his illusions are strictly visual tricks and cannot actually deal damage. He can also throw his voice and turn invisible.

Umbral Magic: Their connection to the primal Zodiark makes Ascian Umbral magic particularly potent. They can create lances of shadows that stab into people's souls, which has the effect of knocking the victim unconscious or stunning them, open gravity voids, and sling shadows around as if shadow were an element.

Creation Magic: All Ascians are gifted in creation magic which allows them to cast elemental spells (wind, ice, fire, lightning etc), summon monsters, and create creatures and inanimate objects from their aether. Fandaniel, as a sundered Ascian, is less powerful in creation magic than others of his kind but still ostensibly uses the power to create clothing for himself and set pieces for his theatrical antics. Sometimes he creates aetherial chains to temporarily bind someone and drag them around.

Like most Ascians, Fandaniel prefers not to engage in direct combat so he only uses offensive power if cornered or driven into the open. Usually he teleports, creates objects (mostly clothing) and flies. Anything beyond that is rare.

Anything he does that could effect another character would obviously be cleared by the other player. Anything that could effect plot and world building would be submitted for mod approval.

PERSONALITY QUESTIONS

Describe an important event in your character's life and how it impacted them.

Prior to his Ascian embrace, Fandaniel lived as Amon, a powerful mage and genius technologist in the Empire of Allag. In his day, Allag had was at the height of its prosperity and enjoying a period of peace. Amon worried this peace would put Allag into a steep intellectual decline. Nobody was curious anymore, they just sought the next cheap thrill and tended to find it in the results of Amon's experiments.

Amon tried to find ways of saving his people and quickly decided that a lack of knowledge was not the issue. If anything Allag had too much knowledge. What Allag needed was a strong leader to set it back on track. With this in mind he eventually exhumed, cloned, and resurrected Xande, the founder of Allag. Under Xande Allag gained a renewed sense of purpose and the empire expanded, becoming more vast and more powerful than it had ever been. However, memories of death haunted Xande. He knew all of the power in the world would mean nothing once he died. Driven by nihilism, he made a pact with the Void and attempted to open a gateway that would invite Void powers to destroy all life in the world. To open the gate he channeled energy from the sun into a powerful structure called Syrcus Tower. While Syrcus was able to withstand the energy, the ground beneath it could not and a massive earthquake buried Allag in moments.

It was during the civil wars shortly before the quake when Amon was approached by Emet-Selch and elevated to the seat of Fandaniel, turning him into an Ascian. The embrace brought with it the Convocation's memories of Fandaniel's first lifetime and proved to Amon that haunting dreams he'd had his whole life were true memories of his soul's past. The combination of gaining these memories, contextualizing his nightmares, and seeing his beloved kingdom collapse due to his own actions drove him into madness and despair. If Allag could fall so quickly, might Xande have been right? Was life nothing but a march towards death?

His soul's first incarnation, Hermes, had allowed the apocalyptic Final Days of the Ancients as a test to see if mankind was worthy of continued existence and dominion over the world. Now, Amon asked his soul's question again and decided to watch mankind and determine for himself whether or not life had any inherent value. After millenia he reached his decision that it did not. He would end the world, end himself, and bring about Xande's vision as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

Does your character have a moral code, or other set of standards they try to live by?

Fandaniel has no creed or internal moral compass and has given actual villain speeches about this. He just wants to die and take everything with him when he goes so he considers himself a creature that cannot be reasoned with.

Instead of appealing to his better nature if someone really wanted him to do something they'd be better off appealing to his insatiable curiosity. He has purposefully avoided intervening against people he's known were his enemies just because he was eager to know if their effort would pay off.

If someone really wanted to reason with him about his desire to end the world, they would have to appeal to his answer to the question he asked the universe. Only reevaluating his stance on the meaning of life, which is that it has no meaning, can sway him from his path of destruction. Getting him there is not impossible since there is a tiny spark within him that wants to feel hope again but it would be extremely difficult. He has had thousands of years to reach the answer he's come to. He is also not interested in forgiveness or redemption.

What quality or qualities do they admire most?

He doesn't admire any quality in mankind. At best he thinks it's amusing when people try to fight against their inevitable deaths but even this becomes bad comedy if it goes on for too long. If he is honest with himself he also has conflicting feelings about people who have strong reasons for living, at once envying and pitying them. This emotion isn't enough to make him reconsider killing everyone.

There are qualities he finds useful, however. Power, strength and ambition make for convenient allies and he likes to find people who have one or all of these qualities to help him further his own goals. If he chooses the right people they help him as long as he gets them what they want in the process. The best alliances are so convenient that a detail like him wanting to destroy the world isn't enough to break them.

Do they have a part of themselves they dislike?

Fandaniel is fueled not just by contempt for mankind but also intense self loathing. Looking at himself he recognizes he is a monster and knows that the man his soul had been before the Sundering would "weep" over what he's become. In his own mind he is a complete aberration that has never been able to fit into any society or find peace. He knows he is a warped soul twisted by pain across many lifetimes. He hates himself more than he hates anyone else. There is nothing about himself he deems worthy of continued existence and he is willing to sentence himself to the same oblivion as the rest of the universe.

What is their sign, and why?
The Hanged Man.

Fandaniel's whole existence has been defined by his keen intellect and ability to understand magic and science but not people. This has driven him into the outskirts of society, causing him to live a very long life of intense loneliness. He's never had close friends or acquaintances which makes him feel very alone in his anguish. While this has contributed to his spiral into despair and madness, Fandaniel's sense of self has always been remarkably strong. He is one of the only Ascians who did not align himself with the Unsundered after his embrace, choosing instead to walk his own path. It is a very destructive path but it is his.

SAMPLES & ARRIVAL

Samples: LINK, LINK 2

Arrival Scenario: The Free Cities. After being pulled out of the well he just laid limp on the stone for a while as if dead before getting up and letting the guards lead him to the barracks. Not long after this he wandered back to the storage areas and started digging through things to examine the bits of machinery.

A "Visuals" post and by "Visuals" we man teeext
CW: suicidal ideation, references to suicide, but in the form of shitposting






































And we will all go together when we go
What a comforting fact that is to know.
Universal bereavement
An inspiring achievement!
Yes, we all will go together when we go!

...

Oh, we will all fry together when we fry
We'll be french fried potatoes by and by
There will be no more misery
When the world is our rotisserie
Yes, we all will fry together when we fry

Down by the old maelstrom
There'll be a storm before the calm

And we will all bake together when we bake
There'll be nobody present at the wake
With complete participation
In that grand incineration
Over eight billion hunks of well-done steak

-Tom Lehrer

Potential content warnings with this character:

suicide
suicidal ideation
depression/despair
extreme self-loathing
mental illness
nihilism
body horror
coerced/nonconsensual human experimentation
existential horror
nightmares
violence
death
ego death
magical possession
the Fermi Paradox
cloning

Fandaniel is sadistic, nihilistic, manipulative, and generally enjoys rubbing people the wrong way. He is also dangerously suicidal. His desire to destroy himself and all humanity is portrayed in fantastical ways but a lot of weight is given to his despair. He wants to die and stay dead. This despair and existential horror is a pervasive theme with him that will be hard to avoid with consistent CR. While Endwalker does end on a note of profound hope, Fandaniel's throughline in the story is one of hopelessness in the face of suffering. It may be coming from a video game but I have known people who needed to step back from FFXIV to fully process what Endwalker was saying. It gets heavy. I can perfectly understand if people don't want to deal with these themes in their RP.

Comment here with your characters if you don't want to interact with him for this or any other reason and I will keep him away from you. If you do want to interact with him but would like to set some boundaries you can do that here too. Fandaniel may like to torment people but I absolutely do not!

If you would like to opt out of spoilers for Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker you can do that here as well, I will only reference the details of the character plainly stated during his intro sequences in Shadowbringers.

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