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☿ Victory Road Information ☿
Emet-Selch
But yes, moral relativism and all that. Case in point—I do not consider you to be truly alive. Ergo, I will not be guilty of murder if I kill you. FINAL FANTASY XIV
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-Reusable Volt Switch TM -TM Roost, U-Turn, Attract, Shadow Ball, Hail -HM Rock Smash, Strength, Fly, Surf, Whirlpool, Waterfall -Various items (potions, revives, luxury balls, etc) When first we meet Emet-Selch he comes across as casual, cruel, and all around theatrical. With sweeping gestures of his arms, dramatic posing—even monologuing—it's made pretty apparent that he's a rather performative sort. This fact is a crucial part of his character, seeing as he has spent the last several thousand years playing various roles among mortals. Shaping the very foundation of their world through its imperially inclined nations, ones that he himself was the architect of. Due to this, he has a tendency to shift between roles based on his personal company. While around his grandson Varis (the current Emperor of Garlemald, one such nation Emet-Selch founded) he wears the mask of a cackling and cruel villain. Indifferent to the suffering he's caused to the nations he's lead Garlemald to subjugate, and Garlemald itself in equal measure. This unconcerned smugness and latent dangerous zeal tends to be poorly received by others, yet it's a constant personality trait regardless of whom he is around. While he's capable of being polite—even friendly—he will often not put forth that sort of effort if there is nothing to be gained. That is another important facet of his character: Emet-Selch does not work for nothing. Every thought, action, and mannerism is utterly calculated, carefully measured. He does not expend energy beyond what it exactly necessary, he does not do anything that isn't somehow required. This shows in his body language, how he stands with a heavy slouch, how languid his movements are. Even in his attempts at bridging the gap between the heroes and the villains such as himself, he falls rather short. While making a fairly decent case, his casual and detached manner leaves the heroes suspicious and, in some regards, hostile. This is understandable, his lack of manners aside, due to the fact he is an Ascian—thus a member of the antagonistic group that has plagued mankind since the dawn of history. Ascians are ancient beings from a time before man, operating on rules that better fit specters than more tangible races, whom of which has spent eons crafting schemes to bring about calamities at the cost of millions of lives. However, after so much bloodshed and carefully plotted and carried out schemes, Emet-Selch is entirely exhausted and miserable, thus he seeks a different route. One of understand and cooperation with those that see he and his as nothing more than villains, a distinction that eats at him, ironic as it may be. This decision sets him apart from the other Ascians, for none before him truly attempted to find a common ground with the heroes. Nor did they attempt to educate the heroes on the war they're engaging in. Ultimately, he wishes to travel a path of lesser tragedy. For himself and his people, but even the mortals he appears to hold such ambivalence to. For all Emet-Selch can be cruel and indifferent, the reality is he detests violence. The hatred he bears for mankind is rooted in their indifference for one another, which fuels his justification in leading so many to their demise. Justifying it by telling himself he doesn't see them as truly alive, and yet he still wishes to minimize the death toll. With origins rooted in the lost city of Amaurot—an ancient civilization that knew nothing but peace and prosperity—it's unsurprising that he carries such distaste for mortals and their wanton cruelty for one another. He longs for the restoration of the world he once knew more than anything; wistfully reminiscing those halcyon days even thousands of years later. Yet, with what we have been shown of his time in Amaurot, he did not appear to be happy. Even within the company of his close friend, he still proved irritable, short, and dismissive. Bemoaning the company in the fact of his friend's unmitigated fondness for him. It truly appears that Emet-Selch may very well be incapable of true happiness, merely lesser misery. However, what Emet-Selch wants is quite possibly nothing more than a fleeting and impossible dream. Something that might not truly be able to come to pass. Even if it did, who knows if he would truly be happy. Yet, he marches forward, miserable and burdened, all for the sake of the loved ones he's lost. Despite the severity of his burden, He is not immune to pettiness. He's a bit of a cranky old man at the best of times, and does not take well to being bored. After living for thousands of years, he has little patience for such, though one may argue he never has. Regardless of the danger present in a given situation, he is not above abandoning his would-be allies to their fate should he find it not interesting enough. In this way, he's a bit detached and blasé to a lot of dire situations—and after living a veritable eternity, who can rightly blame him? The grand scheme that he and his have devised to usher in the Rejoining is, by far, a slow process. One that took careful calculations and timing, balancing the scales just right to achieve the desired effect. As such, there's quite a lot of downtime, which leads to boredom. His typical cure for this, beyond observing the sundered races, is sleeping. This might make Emet seem lazy, or even unmotivated, but in truth he is neither. Since the fall of Amaurot, and quite possible well before, he's been stuck in a depression which permeates his every movement, expression, and gesture. He's even been found sleeping randomly, admitting he's fond of it, and that he finds it a great way to pass the time—needless to say this is a distinctive marker of his depression and grief. For all his sluggishness and depression, he is ever determined to get what he wants. Even as the group continues to dismiss him, treat him as unwanted and unwelcomed, even insult him, he stays with them. Aiding them, guiding them, and even saving one of their own. Offering condolences when it was believed she was dead. Nodding to the fact that he knows it's never easy losing the ones you love, even if he says it rather indifferently and without tender sensitivity to the situation. However, once he learns there may yet be a way to save her, he offers to do so, much to the surprise of the group. This act was to garner their trust, but also because he empathized with their grief. If there is one thing about Emet-Selch, he is honest and genuine in what he claims. Never once lying to the group, and genuinely keeping his end of the bargain, despite how they treated him, despite how much they rebuffed and rejected him. All of it in an effort to meet in the middle, for both sides to gain further understanding of one another. To keep the hope alive that there might be a path of lesser tragedy. Being one of three spared by the sundering brought about by Hydaelyn (the crystaline god the heroes worship), he knows the true history of the world, plagued by it and by the memories of a better life. It's because of these memories he cannot give up on the past, though they are not alone in such fault. With him being a servant to Zodiark—the Ascian's dark god which saved their world from the first calamity—he is tempered to his will. While this tempering seems to vary greatly with those of lesser primals, leaving a great measure of his free will intact, he is utterly incapable of abandoning his course. Not that he has not tried before, nor that he has never attempted to give mankind a chance; be it through mankind disappointing him, or a far more cruel reminder of their frailty, he has been forced to stay upon this blood-soaked path. Now, this is not to say that he does not have a hand in these decisions, that the cruelty and death he's caused are not his responsibility. They are indeed, however it's merely more complicated than that. Where Zodiark's tempering ends and Emet's own thoughts, feelings, and desires begin are blurred, but regardless of such pedantic distinction one thing is certain: Emet-Selch is incapable of betraying Zodiark. As such, his truest and greatest desire is to resurrect his god, and in his mind, in so doing will bring back all he's lost. The freedom allowed to the Ascians is interesting, seeing as they tend to have no set rules or manner of governance, save for working towards Zodiark's ressurection. This is why Emet-Selch could approach the heroes as he did, why he could align himself with them, and consider taking them on as allies. It may very well be why he has the ability to hope and nearly form bonds with the mortal races, though the prevailing issue is that something always goes wrong. Even as he began to feel hope for the heroes, putting faith in them that they might pass his trial which would anoint them worthy and true allies, they fail him. Up till that point, he had opened up to them, slowly peeling away his eccentric and annoying persona, leaving bare the somber and sad man he truly is. Sharing with them the world's history—his people's history—long since forgotten, the truth of both his and their god's origin and nature, as well as the sorrow that drives him forth. Every step of the way he filled in the blanks, he aided them as he promised he would, even saved one of their companions from certain death when he would have just as rightly benefited from her demise. For as cold as he can act, he is actually truly empathetic and sensitive. This is both a strength and a weakness for him. This empathy allows him to attempt to reach out and understand the mortal races, it's greatly what has made his schemes and construction of his great imperial nations so successful. In fact, out of all the schemes the Ascians have devised and put forth, it seems as though his has the most success, and for good reason. However, this comes at a cost. He tends to get hurt and disappointed, getting invested in mortals when he shouldn't, trying to give them chances when he knows better. Even making the mistake of loving his first born son, a son who inspired hope for the mortals, that they may yet be worthy of Amaurot's legacy—but then the man grew ill and died before his time. Just as his son reminded him of the frailty and imperfection of mortals, so too did the Warrior of Light when they failed to contain the compounded light of the lightwardens. Of course the hero's failure wasn't a true failure for him, it merely meant their earlier plan would continue. Their failure was a victory for the Ascians, but that did not mean it was the victory he wanted. He was disappointed, disgusted, and irritated at them and himself for believing there could be another way. Countless times has been spent taking the measure of mortals, looking for any that could prove that mankind was worthy of the sacrifice his people made. The sacrifice that has left him in unending anguish for eons—never have they proven him wrong. Never has he forced their hands to bring about the destruction of their own, always willing to take the path of violence than the path of peace, when given the option, they always vie for the means to destroy one another. Again and again they fail, and again and again is he disappointed. Even with the Warrior of Light, he finds them wanting. He had high expectations of them, due to the fact they are a fragment of one of his close friends from Amaurot, yet they are not complete enough to prove to him wrong about mortals. So desperately did he want to be proven wrong, he allowed himself to put faith in them. However, once proven right once more, he goes immediately back to being cruel and dismissive. Cutting himself off from them, and shutting them out—but not entirely. When the heroes confronted him at his recreated version of Amaurot, they attempt to reason with him, attempt to reach him, but he rebuffs them Rejects their attempts, and honestly scolds them—yet despite all of this, he does not attack them. He doesn't raise a hand to kill them or harm them, even when they gravely insult him by comparing the ones he's lost to be of equal measure to them and theirs. Fury ignites in his eyes, but he merely invites them to prove themselves, earn their place on this star. After making the group live through the apocalypse that befell Amaurot, facing against the recreation of the monsters that annihilated and destroyed his home (while narrating it for them), he still finds them wanting. Even as the Warrior of Light gains the ability to control the light, doing the very thing that Emet-Selch needed them to do to prove there was another way, it's too late. He refuses to budge on his stance, refuses to backdown. His grief too strong, his anger too fierce, and while he could utterly annihilate the group in an instance, he doesn't. He debilitates them, and then challenges the Warrior of Light to one final judgment, a test of strength that will write the next chapter of history. It's then that he reveals his true name to them: Hades. Between the combined strength of the Warrior, their companions, and even champions summoned across space and time, they are able to defeat him. Terrified of failing everyone he's promised to save, Hades gave it his all to extinguish the Warrior of Light, yet the latter prevailed. As Hades stood before the Warrior of Light, a sizable hole blown out of his torso, he looks on at them with solemn acceptance of his defeat. Asking of them only one last favor, visibly relaxing upon their agreement, thus finding peace only in death. 
ASCIAN TEAM 
BOX 
CANONPOINT: End of 5.0 AGE: [canned laughter] HEIGHT: 6'4.5" BUILD: Muscular HAIR: Brown with a streak of white EYES: Pale Gold APPEARANCE: eyes emoji STATUS: Dating Dirk and Hythlodaeus OCCUPATION: Dirk's Lab Assistant RESIDENCE: Goldenrod City BATTLE THEME: Invincible BACKTAGGING: Y 4TH-WALLING: N THREADJACKING: Y, but if it's a serious thread, ask first. FIGHTING: Y ROMANCE: Y, but why would you? He's a miserable old man. INJURY: Y, depending on severity, lets plot it out. |
( efficio )
ROTOM x20
Level: 25
Type:
Sex: ✖
Ability: Levitate
Moves: Astonish, Double Team, Thunder Shock, Confuse Ray, Charge, Electro Ball